Sownd
Cymru yn Fenis / Wales in Venice
Manon Awst and Dylan Huw
9 May 2026 - 22 November 2026
10.00 - 18.00hrs
Closed Mondays
For the 61st International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia, Manon Awst and Dylan Huw represent Cymru yn Fenis / Wales in Venice with the collaborative project Sownd, supported by lead organisations Oriel Davies and Oriel Myrddin.
The Wales in Venice exhibition is presented at Istituto Santa Maria della Pietà, within accessible walking distance to the main Biennale Giardini and Arsenale sites. Cymru yn Fenis / Wales in Venice is commissioned by the Arts Council of Wales with support and collaboration from the Welsh Government, Wales Arts International and the British Council.
Three site-specific events in Wales will run in parallel with the presence as a collateral event of the 61st International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia. (more info here)
Sownd combines organic and geological matter from north Wales and the Venetian Lagoon with words, sounds and sculptures responding to the venue's unique architecture. The title Sownd – meaning both “stuck” and “structurally sound” – reflects the artists' collaborative research on the unstable grounds of Welsh peatlands and the fragile ecologies of the Venetian lagoon. These sites underpin a tactile exploration of the precariously layered histories held within minoritised language cultures.
Their collaboration invites connections across borders, resonating with other minoritised languages and communities. Informed by Wales' celebrated history of site-specific collective practice and poetic tradition, Sownd proposes an architecture of entanglement—where material, linguistic, and ecological threads converge to move beyond the limitations of the present.
The exhibition’s main sculptural device is a wooden boardwalk which guides visitors through the installation’s three rooms, designed with the Caernarfon-based architecture studio, PegwA. It echoes the paths found on wet, boggy grounds, and Venice’s passerelle, temporary walkways installed when the city faces high water. The boardwalk culminates in a spatial sound installation, made with collaboration from Freya Dooley and Catrin Menai, circling a fourteenth-century poem by Dafydd ap Gwilym. Other collaborators on the installation include the bio-design studio Tŷ Syml and We are here Venice, a research collective and activist platform dedicated to the conservation of Venice as a living city.
Artist's Manon Awst and Dylan Huw in Stanza 3 at Sownd with Catherine Spring of Oriel Myrddin and Steffan Jones-Hughes of Oriel Davies © Dewi Tanatt Lloyd
Stanza 1 and Stanza 2, Installation Images of Sownd © Dewi Tanatt Lloyd
Launch of Sownd © Dewi Tanatt Lloyd
Team Bios
Dylan Huw is a writer and artist who works collaboratively across languages and disciplines. Recent projects have been supported by Jerwood Foundation, Artes Mundi, LUX and Mostyn. His critical writing has been published with Frieze, e-flux and Art Monthly, and he has been twice-shortlisted for the International Award for Art Criticism. https://dylanhuw.com
Manon Awst is an artist living in Caernarfon, Wales, whose sculptural and performative practice is rooted in specific sites. With a two-decade exhibiting track record in Wales and Europe, including a decade-long collaborative practice in Berlin, her work is part of the National Library of Wales, the UK Government and Welsh Parliament art collections. https://manonawst.com
Steffan Jones-Hughes is the Director of Oriel Davies Gallery and Curator of Sownd. Oriel Davies is a key public art gallery of Wales, based in Newtown, rural Powys, mid-Wales. Established in 1982, it presents world-class, thought-provoking and challenging art by national and international artists in an environment that is welcoming, engaging, informative and free.
Catherine Spring is Oriel Myrddin’s Creative Producer and Exhibition Director for Sownd. Oriel Myrddin Gallery is a centre for contemporary visual art, craft and design, located in Carmarthen, south-west Wales. Since 1991, it has been a place for local and international audiences to engage with contemporary ideas through a diverse programme of the visual and applied arts.
Elliott Flannagan is the Curatorial Associate for Wales in Venice 2026. He supports Steffan and Catherine in the curatorial research, development and delivery of Sownd. His freelance role is supported by ArtFund.
Lily T Wells is the Engagement Associate for Wales in Venice 2026. She supports Oriel Davies and Oriel Myrddin and the artists in the development, production, and delivery of the associated public programming in Wales. Her freelance role is supported by The Colwinston Trust.
