Little Richard’s Almanac — Venice Biennale 2026 / Nauru Pavilion
Little Richard’s Almanac presents a continuous program of animated works within the Nauru Pavilion at the 61st International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia.
In the minor keys of a vanishing world, Little Richard’s Almanac creates surreal, music-driven narratives where memory distorts, meaning fragments, and new forms of life begin to surface.
Practice
LRA creates 2D collage-based animated works for experimental and psychedelic musicians, translating sound into visual structures. When exhibited in gallery contexts, these works shift the conditions of viewing: music becomes both subject and presence, introducing immediacy, recognition, and exchange.
Where contemporary art often isolates, LRA’s installations invite conversation. Visitors enter through sound—through familiarity, rhythm, or curiosity—and remain to compare, remember, and speak. The work does not ask for silent interpretation, but for shared experience.
Context
LRA’s inclusion in the inaugural Nauru Pavilion resonates with a broader condition of cultural and material precarity. In an era marked by disappearance—of independent music ecosystems, of non-algorithmic discovery, and of vulnerable geographies—the act of preservation becomes inseparable from access.
By translating music into visual form, exhibiting it within fine art contexts, and creating spaces for encounter, LRA positions memory as active, social, and contingent. To preserve culture is not only to archive it, but to circulate it—to allow it to be heard, seen, and discussed.
Collaborative Practice
Founded by Niki Elliott and Ron Laboray, LRA operates through a fully collaborative model. Both artists contribute across all stages of production, from research and artist engagement to animation and exhibition design.
Their work draws from deep engagement with experimental music and decades of visual art practice, resulting in a system that is at once formal, intuitive, and responsive to sound.
Selected Context
LRA has collaborated with artists including The Brian Jonestown Massacre (Berlin), Federale (Portland), and L.A. Mood (Melbourne), with works screened internationally, including Miami, Paris, Amsterdam, Malaysia, and Italy.
The work moves between gallery, festival, and distribution contexts, circulating through both art systems and musical networks.