They Come to Us without a Word (Nine Trees)

The United States Pavilion at the Venice Biennale is a Palladian-style structure built in 1930 by the American architects William Adams Delano and Chester Holmes Aldrich. Since 1986, the Peggy Guggenheim Collection has worked with the United States Information Agency (USIA), the U.S. Department of State, and the Fund for Artists at International Festivals and Exhibitions held at the U.S. Pavilion.

In the pavilion's courtyard, tree trunks from La Certosa, an island in the Venetian lagoon, are wrapped together by copper wire, echoing the themes of Jonas's exhibition, They Come to Us without a Word.

Pictured: Installation view of Joan Jonas's They Come to Us without a Word (Nine Trees), 2015. The U.S. Pavilion at the 56th International Art Exhibition-la Biennale di Venezia; commissioned by the MIT List Visual Arts Center. Photo by Moira Ricci.