(L-R) nc; Grand Duchess Stéphanie; Grand Duke Guillaume, Eric Thill, Luxembourg Minister for Culture;
Credit: Maison du Grand-Duc
On Friday 11 September 2026, Luxembourg’s Ministry of Culture reported on Minister for Culture Eric Thill’s visit to Venice (Italy) as part of a programme highlighting Luxembourg’s presence at several major international cultural events.
According to the ministry, Minister Thill travelled to Venice on Thursday 9 and Friday 10 September for the programme which centred on three highlights: the “Fiat Lux” exhibition, the audiovisual creation presented at the Venice Film Festival and a visit to the Luxembourg Pavilion at the Art Biennale.
“Fiat Lux”: Luxembourg’s crafts in the spotlight
The ministry reported that the central event of the visit was the opening of the “Fiat Lux” exhibition, which took place on Thursday 10 September at Casa Sanlorenzo, in the presence of Their Royal Highnesses the Grand Duke and Grand Duchess and Minister for Culture Eric Thill.
Organised to mark the tenth anniversary of De Mains De Maîtres Luxembourg, the exhibition brings together 27 Luxembourg-based women and men creators and craftspeople, showcasing more than 60 works centred on light, materials and craftsmanship.
“This presence in Venice demonstrates the diversity and boldness of Luxembourg’s creative scene. With ‘Fiat Lux’, we are shining a light on women and men who master exceptional skills while also developing them through new ideas, techniques and materials. Crafts are an integral part of our culture, and giving them the visibility they deserve, both in Luxembourg and abroad, is an important dimension of our cultural policy,” Eric Thill emphasised.
The minister also highlighted the particular role played by De Mains De Maîtres in promoting crafts in Luxembourg. Launched in 2016, the initiative has, over the past decade, helped strengthen recognition of these professions and create new opportunities for their practitioners to gain visibility. For Eric Thill, the transmission of know-how must go hand in hand with the ability to experiment and reinvent oneself: “Crafts do not merely preserve our heritage; they also contribute to creating it.”
Two Luxembourg co-productions at the Venice Film Festival
The visit began on Wednesday 9 September at the 83rd Venice International Film Festival. Minister Thill discovered Artou, director Abderrahmane Sissako’s first virtual-reality work, co-produced in Luxembourg by a_BAHN and selected for the official Venice Immersive section.
The minister also attended the premiere of Guria by Georgian director Levan Koguashvili. Co-produced in Luxembourg by Tarantula Luxembourg, the feature film is being presented in the Venezia Spotlight section. The selections of Guria and Artou demonstrate the continued presence of Luxembourg’s audiovisual sector at major international festivals and its ability to participate both in traditional film production and in new forms of immersive creation.
From the Art Biennale to Homo Faber
On Thursday 10 September, the Grand Duke Guillaume and Grand Duchess Stéphanie, along with Minister Thill visited the Luxembourg Pavilion at the 61st Venice Art Biennale, in the presence of artist Aline Bouvy. Her project La Merde, presented at the Arsenale, represents Luxembourg at the 2026 edition of the Biennale.
The programme also included a visit to Homo Faber at the Fondazione Giorgio Cini on the island of San Giorgio Maggiore. This year’s edition, themed “An Island of Light”, is the fourth edition of the international exhibition dedicated to craftsmanship. It brings together more than 500 craftspeople from over 70 countries and approximately 700 objects. The visit placed Luxembourg’s “Fiat Lux” presence within the broader context of international exchanges surrounding contemporary craftsmanship.
The minister said that through these various events, the visit to Venice highlighted three complementary expressions of Luxembourg’s creative output — cinema and immersive art, contemporary art, and crafts — united by a shared ambition of creation, experimentation and international recognition.
