For the 61st Venice Biennale in 2026, Bugarin + Castle are to represent Scotland, curated by Mount Stuart Trust and commissioned by Scotland + Venice.
From Scottish castles to Filipino cemeteries, Bugarin + Castle explore overlapping geographies and time periods in a contemporary queer and trans reimagining of public shaming rituals. Bugarin + Castle narrative unfolds not in a single scene, but in a carnival-like procession of subversion and defiance. Working across architecture, moving image, sculpture, and performance, their practice draws vibrant connections between queer and trans lives in Scotland and internationally, including diasporic connections to the Philippines. Their work focuses on shared resonances as well as differences, shaped by personal and cultural histories.
Across multiple artworks, the exhibition Shame Parade reimagines centuries-old European shaming rituals, known as rough music, charivari and scampanate, where spectacle, sound, and costume were used to discipline social transgressors. The artists transform these customs into a contemporary language, bringing together fourteenth-century court transcripts, satirical eighteenth-century engravings, karaoke ballads, medieval armour and Filipino vehicle art. Through this process, they construct a layered world where historic voices and contemporary culture loop together in scenes that are both defiant and tender.
The sculpture, At Certayne Tymes fuses mechanical, anatomical, and vocal elements, while Submit to Sound, a moving image work, layers voice feminisation exercises and songs made with Manila-based band Kalye Teresa. Traversing both gallery spaces, the sculptural intervention, Nocturnal Amusements, poses the question, “Are You Discreet?” a knowing provocation to the viewer. Shame here is not banished, but stretched to new emotional registers where defiance, play, and intimacy coexist. Bugarin + Castle offer no moral resolution. By mapping shame and transformation across continents and through time, they create a politically charged space where power and identity remain in motion.
Bugarin + Castle’s recent interactive film Sore Throat, shot in Edinburgh and Manila, explored colonial monsters and sound in queer Filipino spaces, showing in a solo exhibition at Fruitmarket as well as at Tate Modern and international venues. Via custom software, gallery audience voices were unknowingly recorded and replayed within the film, implicating them as antagonists in its narrative. Bugarin + Castle also perform in drag as Hairy Teddy Bear and Pollyfilla, through Pollyanna, a Scottish queer arts company founded by Castle, now in its 10th year. The artists are based in Glasgow. The work of the artists has been exhibited at leading UK institutions including Tate Modern, ICA: Institute of Contemporary Art, Fruitmarket and City Art Centre. Internationally, their work has been shown at WHYNoT Space (Philippines), Microscope Gallery (USA), and Krittinen Gallery (Finland), and will be in upcoming exhibitions at Tromsø Centre for Contemporary Art (Norway), Photographic Centre Peri (Finland), and Cypher (Greece).WHYNoT Space (Philippines), and upcoming at Powerhouse Arts (USA). Individually, they have a wide international practice. Davide Bugarin’s work has been featured at the Malta Biennale (2024) 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. He was part of the New Architecture Writers programme, contributing to The Architectural Review and The Architects’ Journal. He has received awards and scholarships from Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA), Worshipful Company of Architects and Burberry. Bugarin recently completed a research fellowship at The Warburg Institute, who have supported the initial research for this Scotland + Venice project. Angel Cohn Castle’s work has been commissioned by BBC Scotland, LUX Scotland and Talbot Rice Gallery, and exhibited at galleries including Kunstmuseum Bonn (Germany) and BALTIC (UK). As founder of Pollyanna, she has produced exhibitions at Royal Scottish Academy, Stirling Castle and international galleries including KINDL Centre for Contemporary Art (Germany). She is currently Lecturer in Fine Art at Newcastle University, and was previously Teaching Fellow in Fine Art at The University of Edinburgh.
Mount Stuart Trust, on the Isle of Bute, are curating the project, led by Dr Morven Gregor, working with the artists and a series of partners. They have presented a renowned Contemporary Visual Arts Programme since 2001 with artists including Alberta Whittle, Abbas Akhavan, Linder, Martin Boyce, Thomas Abercromby, and Ilana Halperin. Following Venice, the exhibition will return to Mount Stuart on Bute in Summer 2027, before touring to venues throughout Scotland and a UK tour supported by Art Fund. Forma, a contemporary arts organisation working across the UK and internationally, are Producers of the film element of the project and are working with Mount Stuart as Production Manager of the exhibition in Venice.
The project was chosen to represent Scotland by a panel including Sepake Angiama, Director, Iniva, Norah Campbell, Head of Arts Scotland, British Council, Simon Groom, Director, International & National Partnerships, National Galleries of Scotland, Emma Nicolson, Head of Visual Arts, Creative Scotland and Lucia Pietroiusti, Head of Research & Emergence at Hartwig Art Foundation, Amsterdam. In selecting them, Scotland + Venice embraces a vision of Scotland that is outward-facing, interconnected, and attuned to the complexities of a shifting world, as well as supporting two artists to make their most significant body of work to date.
Photograph. Courtesy of the artists and Scotland + Venice