Will The Unsafe House take over the Venice Biennial 2026?

It is always difficult to assess a chance of something happening if you have only access to limited direct information or people stay quiet on the real issues involved.

In a former post we talked about the apparent demise of The Creeps from the Middle East in which we shortly mentioned the new biotope of Sina Khani, the main character of The Creeps:

"The last year Khani seems to be submerged in The Unsafe House project, initiated by Tarik Sadouma, he even lives in their dwellings and seems to have left Berlin. Did he leave The Creeps behind?"

Sadouma, also a character in episode 5, is boosting his art career in several ways. This seems necessary, as he claims to  have been cancelled, recently  by cultural institutions such as De Balie in Amsterdam and the Art Academy of Leipzig (HGB). To achieve this aim Sadouma is running for the USA Venice Biennial pavilion, in collaboration with his friend philosopher, monarchist and "lord of darkness" Curtis Yarvin, who is convinced that Sadouma makes a serious chance to be the USA candidate for the Biennale di Venezia. This topic has also been discussed in The Unsafe House podcast, hosted by Sadouma’s partners in crime, Ruth Spetter and Sina Khani. People interested should watch the podcast.

Sadouma has emerged as a brilliant A.I.-powered trailer producer. ”I like his satirical way of using it," a friend of mine remarked recently. His creative flair even extends to painting, where, according to some,  his unique visual language and bold ideas stand out. Judge for yourself: Tarik Sadouma Paintings

Of course, the Venice Biennale demands something on a larger scale, and while trailers alone might not suffice, his concept The Unsafe House, a kind of relational artwork, could be just the thing. Why not build it in the pavilion in Venice in 2026? That would be my suggestion.

The Unsafe House is currently pouring energy into a bold proposal, set to be delivered by Curtis Yarvin to a cultural envoy in the Trump administration.  A strategic move to bypass the usual tastemakers of the art world in the USA. It’s an audacious approach, but then again, that’s very much Sadouma’s style. To quote the Vanity Fair about their shenanigans: The Barbarians Are at the Gates. 

In the meantime Sadouma, the initiator of The Unsafe House, went on with his project to really achieve a participation in the Venice Biennial. He and some of his partners visited the USA a couple of times, had a meeting with Curtis Yarvin, the big ‘project accelerator’, in Paris, and assured me in personal talks the chance of really getting the USA Pavilion commission was 70%!

As a former professional researcher of opinions, consumers and markets,  you have several options to estimate certain developments by, for example, desk research, combined with qualitative interview techniques, using projective techniques, and  others and you can make people talk on subjects they prefer to stay silent on. This  might deliver relevant data, like a recent publication in The Washington Post and others on latest developments and  relevant candidates for the Venice Biennial 2026.

After visiting The Unsafe House a few times, inviting them to exhibitions with Art Space 411, contributing performances and jingles, and being the main musician on Sina Khani’s No Gaza No Cry, recorded in the Unsafe studios, I found myself caught in a strange dual role. On one hand, I try to stay objective and reliable, maintain a professional face, maybe even live a normal life. On the other hand, there’s the pull of my own projects, artistic and journalistic, increasingly entangled with radical gestures and controversial figures. Collaborating with someone like Sina Khani feels urgent and necessary, but how far can you go before the risk outweighs the impact? And how do you navigate all this without losing your footing or getting cancelled?

Let’s go back to the main topic: will The Unsafe House actually be selected to represent the USA at the Venice Biennial of 2026?

Sadouma and his partners have been quite secretive to me about their proposal, but in The Washington Post though, much is revealed: The proposal would present artists who "have been previously excluded or underrepresented by the hegemonic and ideological art world," artists "who challenge progressive orthodoxies" with a vision of patriotism and traditional values according to their application. Their proposal also includes a workshop for "public figures aligned with conservative or MAGA-related values," like movie stars, to co-create artworks in collaboration with traditional American craftspeople."

The Washington Post reports: “Their vision calls for the U.S. pavilion to be rebaptized as the Salon des Déplorables, a reference to the Salon des Refusés, the 19th-century Parisian exhibition of rejected avant-garde works. A Museum of Dark Enlightenment will showcase artwork of creation and destruction that will declare the 'old' art world to be dead. A series of Hollywood-style sets will offer a provocative mimicry of pop art, without its often disdainful view of American identity.”

It is a clever strategy. By positioning themselves as the alternative, once excluded art community, they directly challenge the art establishment that has long controlled the selection of U.S. representatives at the Biennale. In this shifting cultural landscape, marked by a reorientation of leadership within American institutions, there is a real opportunity. As the Trump administration reshapes the ideological direction of cultural policy, figures like Curtis Yarvin and Tarik Sadouma are not just provocateurs. They are emerging as serious contenders with a cohesive and radical vision. If this momentum continues, it is entirely possible that Sadouma and his collaborators could represent the United States in Venice in 2026.

One very important note on the main competing artist with an "overtly Trumpian, Maga" proposal: Andres Serrano. Notoriously bombarded to fame in the late 80’s with his Piss Christ work (officially called 'Immersion (Piss Christ)),' which also could be the hindrance to his selection by the way, considering the very conservative and explicitly pro-Christian roots of the Maga movement now trying to control and redesign the USA.

Again The Washington Post: Serrano "now thinks he has a perfect fit for a MAGA-ified Biennale. ‘The Game: All Things Trump’ is Serrano’s exhibition of Trump ephemera from his casinos, product lines and television work over the years."

Considering the narcissistic personality of the current president this proposal might even have a bigger chance of being selected, presupposing that the Piss Christ is successfully concealed by the Serrano team.

Things are shifting. The old cultural hierarchies are cracking, and in that space, people like Curtis Yarvin and especially Tarik Sadouma are starting to move in ways that seemed unthinkable a few years ago. In my opinion, Sadouma isn’t just reacting to the moment. He is actually shaping it, with a mix of strategical thinking and sharp media instincts, dark humor, and a kind of unapologetic aesthetic strategy. If the current momentum holds, I genuinely think it is not far fetched to imagine him taking over the U.S. pavilion in Venice in 2026. And honestly, it would make sense in the current cultural and political climate in the USA. His work speaks directly to this weird and unstable time, not just in opposition to the established art world but as something that could replace it.

The decision on who will be the selected artist will fall this month, September-October  2025.

Hans Kuiper

The Creeps are dead?

(Photo:) On Instagram, Sina Khani claims to have been beaten up by his...new girlfriend.

You always have to take care if you are the carrier of bad news, people may be seduced to haunt you. But, in this case I have an urgent need to ask the question in public: Are the Creeps, the notorious series starring Sina Khani,  dead?

I know it has been asked many times before to boost careers that were already on their way downwards, but The Creeps didn´t even seem to have reached their summum.

What happened? Main character Sina Khani, also one of the founders and directors of the project posted last week on a frequented social medium his apologies to not have posted a new episode yet...since a year.

Now, insiders whisper the Creeps team broke up! Khani got into a serious fight with his fellow Creeps creators and, so he told "they broke up". Why? It´s still unknown to outsiders - insiders know better.

I know Khani a little bit longer. You never know whether it´s a new ´episode´ in his theatrical way of being or not, but he looked rather serious, when I asked it him face to face. "It´s not going to be mended", were the last words he uttered on it. The Creeps are dead?

Now, surprisingly, yesterday he posted a new ´episode´, episode 5, Das Blut der Anderen, of  The Creeps from the Middle East, which is not new at all, for insiders, but looks exactly like the one they showed months ago in The Unsafe House in Amsterdam. Maybe there is some more post-production work attached to it, but that seems to be marginal. The story that Khani has found his ´real dad´, played by Philip van den Hurk, seems exactly the same. Is it a cover-up for potential new fans, that suggests there is still life in the Creeps project?

To dig a little deeper: The last year Khani seemed to be submerged in the Unsafe House project, initiated by Tarik Sadouma, he even lives in their dwellings and seems to have left Berlin. Did he leave The Creeps behind?

Sadouma, also a character in episode 5, intends himself to boost his ´career´ in several ways. This seems necessary because, as he claims himself, he has been cancelled by Dutch and other culture czars. To achieve this aim Sadouma claims to be running for the USA Venice Biennial pavillion, via his shady contacts with self-proclaimed tech guru Curtis Yarvin, who now even convinces Sadouma, he makes a serious chance to be the USA candidate for the Biennale di Venezia. 

Now Sadouma is a great A.I. trailer producer - "I like this satirical way of using it", a friend of mine said. Sadouma is even a reasonable painter, but for the Biennale you need to produce something bigger. Trailers are not enough, and I didn´t see Sadouma produce any big installation yet, or it must be his ´relational artwork´, The Unsafe House itself. Maybe build it in the pavillion in Venice in 2026? Sadouma works like hell on a proposal that has to be brought by Yarvin to a secretary of culture in the ...Trump government. Bypass the liberal wokies of the art domain!

In this context, Sina Khani seems to have left his Creeps project behind , got into the Unsafe House cult, where he probably believes to boost his career in a better way. So, he seems to have hitchhiked into the Unsafe House, where Sadouma even confesses himself that ´he is burning money´, which means they don´t make a dime, except by selling their real estate to some big investment company - a classical capitalist story. Even Art Space 411, the only art venue to show their work in Berlin and currently in Haarlem (NL), has a hard time selling their work, where Sadouma thinks he can multiply his prices now ´Venice´ seems to be that close.

Scratches on the cheek - his girlfriend must be a cat...

But let´s stick to the main character of this post, mr. Sina Khani himself. Last week I was in the neighbourhood to talk to him face to face - yes, in the Unsafe House - but he was not to be seen anywhere around. Even the Unsafe House crew didn´t know where he hung out, I got the excuse: "He is an artist, they sometimes disappear for a few days, you know how it is".

Ok, maybe I was one of the lucky few who saw the PREVIEW of Episode 5, but that was almost a year ago. To present Episode 5 now as a completely new episode is a farce, but what do you expect of mr. Khani?

Steven Bos and Susan Lanting, the co-directors of the ´permanent series of Sina Khani, till he dies´,  have totally disappeared from the scene, and story goes they have been in a fight with Khani on legal issues considering who owns the rights of the Creeps from the Middle East.

I hope these are not the first steps into the abyss of mr. Sina Khani, who seemed to be so promising one day...

POST SCRIPT

One of the directors reacted immediately and wrote: " Look from minute 43.00!" to convince us of a coming NEW episode, suggesting The Creeps are not dead at all. We only see a short (new) scene of a squirrel dying, symbolic for the Creeps project and a coming s. attempt of one of the characters? WE are NOT convinced the story above ain´t right!

To be continued...

Neoschlager · I am gonna need a Detective Show