Arts and Culture Minister Gayton McKenzie claimed he stopped Gabrielle Goliath’s work from being exhibited at the 2026 Venice Biennale because it was backed by a ‘foreign power’ pushing an agenda on Gaza. Here’s what actually happened. Arts and Culture Minister Gayton McKenzie’s claim that his cancellation of artist Gabrielle Goliath’s work selected for the 2026 Venice Biennale was a “patriotic” act intended to protect the South African Pavilion from being hijacked by a “foreign power” pushing its own “geopolitical message about the actions of Israel in Gaza” appears to be a red herring.
Daily Maverick has evidence that the “foreign power” McKenzie refers to — which is actually Qatar Museums, a cultural institution — had lost interest in purchasing a video recording of Elegy, Goliath’s work that was to be performed in Venice, well before the minister sought to interfere in its content on 22 December. According to a chronology of events that Daily Maverick has pieced together through several WhatsApp exchanges between key players and interviews, a representative of Qatar Museums had conversations with the organising team for the South African Pavilion in early December about purchasing the artwork, or works, selected by South Africa. This conversation was initiated — almost in passing, according to insiders — in November 2025 during the G20 Summit in Johannesburg, when no artist had yet been selected.
Following the selection committee’s internal confirmation on 6 December of Goliath as South Africa’s sole representative, the conversation between the organising team and the Qatar Museums representative resumed on 8 December. This was one of multiple conversations being held simultaneously with several potential funders at the time. Daily Maverick has confirmed the identity of the Qatar Museums representative, who agreed to share the information on the condition of anonymity.
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On 9 December, Art Periodic (AP), the non-profit enlisted by the arts ministry to organise South Africa’s participation at the Venice Biennale, informed Goliath and her team, which consists of curator Ingrid Masondo and studio manager James Macdonald, about the expression of interest from the Qatari museum cluster — in both funding the pavilion and possibly acquiring the artwork. These kinds of acquisitions are common practice in the art world. The discussions revolved around which funders the artistic and curatorial team would be comfortable with.
According to Goliath, the artistic and curatorial team’s position was that it was “not suitably positioned or equipped to vet potential funders we had no personal experience with or meaningful insight into. We subsequently suggested they liaise with the selection committee and aim at setting up an advisory board or suitable accountability framework for funding partners. AP agreed that this was a good idea and one they would consider and explore.” Daily Maverick understands that AP was in the process of setting up this accountability structure when McKenzie canned the Biennale project.
She added it was “significant” that this “expression of interest came without prior knowledge of the selected artist-curator team or the content of the selected exhibition — so a ‘foreign nation’ could not have brought a political agenda and exhibition to the South African Pavilion”. Further countering McKenzie’s allegations of “foreign capture”, Goliath pointed out that she has been “independently developing and conceptualising this work, Elegy, for years”.
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