Venice Biennale 2026 Preview Week Wraps Up May 9th, Bernard Akoi-Jackson Presents “Untitled: Flaggings IN MEMORIAM in the BLUES on some CUES and when WAX ain’t so LOST”

Performance by Ghanaian artist Bernard Akoi-Jackson continues Third Space Art Foundation’s “1922 Revisited” Live Arts Program with a participatory work examining collective memory, ritual gesture, and public gathering

NEW YORK, NY, May 08, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Third Space Art Foundation has announced that Ghanaian artist and writer Bernard Akoi-Jackson will present Untitled: Flaggings IN MEMORIAM in the BLUES on some CUES and when WAX ain’t so LOST (a sketchy score for some processional gestures and an eventual celebratory discussion) on Saturday, May 9, 2026, the final day of the Venice Biennale preview week, at the European Cultural Centre Giardini Marinaressa in Venice, Italy, as part of the foundation’s ongoing 1922 Revisited live arts program.

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The performance unfolds as a series of performative interventions that manifest as processional gestures, fictive liturgical invocations, and a collective act of re-membering. Drawing from observations of the contemporary public sphere alongside visual, textual, and gestural vocabularies, the work engages shared public and private space through participatory activation and ritualized movement.

Akoi-Jackson’s practice employs what he describes as “disturbed methodologies,” a critical framework that interrogates postcolonial and decolonial conditions. Trained in painting and sculpture at Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology in Kumasi, Ghana, he later expanded his work into performance and object-oriented participatory installations.

The forthcoming Venice presentation continues themes explored throughout his multidisciplinary practice, including the long-running REDTAPEONBOTTLENECK project initiated in 2007.

Across exhibitions and performances presented internationally, including An Age of Our Own Making (Reflection II) in Roskilde, Denmark; Silence Between the Lines in Kumasi, Ghana; Material Effects in East Lansing, Michigan; WATA don PASS: Looking West in Lagos, Nigeria; and Time, Trade and Travel in Amsterdam and Accra, Akoi-Jackson has developed participatory works that create spaces for collective inquiry into colonial bureaucracy, ritual, humor, and cultural regulation.

Within Untitled: Flaggings IN MEMORIAM in the BLUES on some CUES and when WAX ain’t so LOST, the interventions unfold across three seasons or sessions. A libation season involves the pseudo-ritual preparation and cleansing of sites identified for the hoisting of flags and standards. A second season centers the hoisting of flags and indigo-dyed standards at designated sites. The concluding gathering acknowledges collective remembering through discussion and what the artist describes as “an almost eucharistic finale.”

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The performance forms part of 1922 Revisited, a multi-day live arts program organized by Third Space Art Foundation during Venice Biennale preview week from May 5–9, 2026. The initiative brings together contemporary artists, performers, and curators in a series of performances, processions, installations, and site-responsive activations that critically engage histories of representation, memory, diaspora, and cultural exchange.

Akoi-Jackson is also featured in the invitational exhibition of this year’s edition of La Biennale di Venezia as a member of blaxTARLINES Kumasi, the Ghana-based collective affiliated with the Department of Painting and Sculpture at KNUST.

The May 9 performance is presented in partnership with the European Cultural Centre. For updates regarding the performance and the full 1922 Revisited program, visit Third Space Art Foundation.

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Key Facts

• Artist: Bernard Akoi-Jackson
• Performance: Untitled: Flaggings IN MEMORIAM in the BLUES on some CUES and when WAX ain’t so LOST (a sketchy score for some processional gestures and an eventual celebratory discussion)
• Date: Saturday, May 9, 2026
• Time: 12:00 PM
• Location: European Cultural Centre Giardini Marinaressa, Venice, Italy
• Program: 1922 Revisited by Third Space Art Foundation
• Partner: European Cultural Centre

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1922 Revisited Collaborators and Partners Include

The program is presented in collaboration with the African Art in Venice Forum and the European Cultural Centre. Additional partners include The Africa Center, the Centre for Contemporary Art Lagos, the Foundation for Contemporary Art Ghana, and the School of Art at the University of Arkansas.

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1922 Revisited Participating Artists Include

• Bernard Akoi-Jackson
• ruby onyinyechi amanze
• Jelili Atiku
• Va-Bene Elikem Fiatsi
• Jermay Michael Gabriel
• Tsedaye Makonnen
• Wilfried Nakeu
• Wura-Natasha Ogunji
• Zora Snake
• Victoria-Idongesit Udondian

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About Third Space Art Foundation

Third Space Art Foundation supports artistic exchange and collective engagement through the cultivation of “third spaces” -- dynamic zones of encounter, negotiation, and creative transformation. Drawing on both widely recognized and decolonial interpretations of the “third space,” the Foundation advances practices that challenge fixed hierarchies and foster new frameworks for cultural understanding. Through performances, exhibitions, residencies, and collaborative initiatives, the Foundation brings together artists, curators, and scholars across geographies to catalyze dialogue, critical inquiry, and new forms of solidarity. 

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Media Contact / CTA

Follow @thirdspaceartfoundation or visit: https://thirdspaceartfoundation.org

For additional information, images, or interview requests, please contact: info@thirdspaceartfoundation.org

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• Bernard Akoi-Jackson Performing During "1922 Revisited" at Venice Biennale 2026

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