Exclusive:First look at Scotland's return to world's oldest contemporary art festival

The first images have been published of Scotland’s representation at the prestigious Venice Biennale art festival.

From Scottish castles to Filipino cemeteries, artists Bugarin + Castle explore overlapping geographies and time periods in a contemporary queer and trans reimagining of public shaming rituals in an exhibition which includes sculpture, sound, and moving image.

Neil Hanna

Scotland has not taken part in the art expo - believed to be the oldest contemporary art festival in the world - since 2022 due to financial concerns. However a review of its participation last year by Scotland + Venice - a partnership between a range of organisations including Creative Scotland, British Council Scotland and the Scottish Government - opted to re-enter the event.

The work of the artists, Angel Cohn Castle - a lecturer in fine art at Newcastle University, and previously a teaching fellow at the University of Edinburgh - and Davide Bugarin, has been exhibited at leading UK institutions including Tate Modern, ICA: Institute of Contemporary Art,as well as Edinburgh’s Fruitmarket and City Art Centre.

Bugarin + Castle, Submit to Sound, 2026, Moving Image, Courtesy the Artists and Scotland + Venice © Bugarin + Castle | Bugarin + Castle

Meanwhile, Mr Bugarin’s work has been featured at the Malta Biennale and the Italian Pavilion at the Venice Biennale of Architecture 2025. He has also participated in a residency at Venice Biennale of Architecture 2023, selected by the Biennale curator.

Bugarin + Castle said: “The unruly woman, the cuckold, the prostitute, the sodomiser, and other social transgressors were publicly mocked in historic shaming parades.

“We are interested in how both sound and cross-dressing were used not for expression but as tools of control. These raucous events are the genesis of our exhibition that traverses the historic and contemporary, Scotland and the Philippines.

Bugarin + Castle

“We make the work in a context today where the lives of those such as trans people and sex workers are being debated and impacted in courts and parliaments, often without those people being heard. The work does not tidy shame away, nor does it cling to it. Instead, we lean into the complexity, stickiness and collision of sound, voice and shame.”

Mount Stuart Trust, based on the Isle of Bute, is curating the project, led by Dr Morven Gregor, working with the artists and a series of partners.

Dr Morven Gregor, curator at Mount Stuart Trust and Sophie Crichton Stuart, chair of Mount Stuart Trust, who founded the Mount Stuart contemporary visual arts programme in 2001, said: “We are excited to curate the work of Bugarin + Castle for Scotland + Venice in 2026. Shame Parade will be the artists’ most ambitious presentation to date, reflecting their global outlook and practices across performance, film, architecture, sculpture and design.”

Bugarin + Castle

Love the arts? Us too - subscribe now to our dedicated newsletter

Although Scotland does not have its own pavilion - and is incorporated into the British Pavilion at the Bienniale, it has previously staged a number of "collateral" shows on the fringes of the main sites. A total of 29 countries have official pavilions at the event, regarded as one of the most significant international platforms within the global art world.

Alastair Evans, chair of the Scotland + Venice Partnership, said: “Scotland+Venice was created to give artists the opportunity to develop ambitious new work within one of the world’s most dynamic cultural contexts, and to champion Scotland as an international centre of excellence for the visual arts.”

Emma Nicolson, head of visual arts at Creative Scotland, said: “Bugarin + Castle are creating work that is visually striking, conceptually rich, and politically resonant. It promises to be a powerful and provocative encounter, and we’re proud to support its journey to be shown in Venice and then to audiences back home in 2027.”

The work will be shown from Saturday 9 May to Sunday 22 November in Venice. It will be displayed at Mount Stuart next year.