Guardian Scottish Art & Contempory Art Scene Back to listing

If Britain breaks up, there will presumably have to be an official Scottish pavilion at the Venice Biennale. There's already a Scottish programme during this year's festival, which will feature the work of Turner contender Karla Black and be staged at Palazzo Pisani in the Cannareggio district of the watery city. There's also to be a Welsh presence, with Tim Davies representing his country this year at the Ludoteca in Castello.

Yet these are defined by the Biennale as "collateral" events, taking place away from the main site. If you visit the main national exhibits at the Biennale Gardens, what you will find is a British pavilion – and a very historic building it is, opened in 1909 in time for the fair's eighth edition.

If Scotland achieves full independence and Great Britain becomes a historical ghost like the Holy Roman Empire, will the British pavilion have to become the English pavilion, or the pavilion of England, Wales and Northern Ireland? Perhaps it should be organised in rotation, with a different nation of the former Britain occupying the site each year.

Read the full article on the Guardian's Art & Culture website