1 May 2026 — Announcement

ARE YOU DISCREET?

Bugarin + Castle

Three people pose looking towards the camera, Davide is seated in the foreground wearing puffed yellow sleeves, knee length socks and black loafers; Morven to the left wears a black dress with pink floral applique and behind Angel stands wearing black and pink with a high colour and bright heart in the center of her chest. They are in a conservatory, with wooden window frames and terracotta tiled floor, surrounded by green leafy plants.

Opening to the public on Saturday 9 May, Bugarin + Castle’s Shame Parade at Olivolo in the historic San Pietro di Castello will invite audiences to explore an exhibition that uses the concept of the parade as a lens to explore complex emotional legacies of shame, sound and voice.

Bugarin + Castle are the Glasgow-based artists Angel Cohn Castle and Davide Bugarin; their presentation for the 61st International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia will be curated by Morven Gregor, Curator of Contemporary and Learning at Mount Stuart on the Isle of Bute.

“The works that make up their exhibition, like the age-old custom that inspired it, turn on another collision: what was once a ritual of humiliation becomes, in Bugarin + Castle’s eclectic, vibrantly theatrical world, an antidote to shame and a form of celebration, even resistance.” – Alastair Curtis in Frieze Venice Issue article ‘Bugarin and Castle Lead a Parade of Shame’. Click here to read.

Across multiple artworks, the exhibition Scotland + Venice: Bugarin + Castle reimagines centuries-old European shaming rituals, known as rough music, charivari and scampanate, where spectacle, sound, and costume were used to discipline social transgressors. Sculptural work At Certayne Tymes fuses mechanical, anatomical, and vocal elements; sculptural intervention Nocturnal Amusements poses the question “Are you Discreet” and moving-image work Submit to Sound, curated by Mount Stuart and produced by Forma, layers voice feminisation exercises and songs made with Manila-based band Kalye Teresa.

“Bugarin + Castle focus on terminology found in queer and transgender communities, flipping words on their head to find new entry points” – Aimee Walleston in Ocula article ‘It’s a Shame’. Click here to read.

Shame here is not banished, but stretched to new emotional registers where defiance, play, and intimacy coexist. Bugarin + Castle offer no moral resolution. By mapping shame and transformation across continents and through time, they create a politically charged space where power and identity remain in motion.

Visit Shame Parade:

Venue: Olivolo, Castello 59/C 30122, Venice

Dates: Saturday 9 May to Sunday 22 November 2026

Open: Tuesday – Sunday, 10am – 6pm.

Film by Nat McGowan | Second Camera: Jen Martin | Titles: Tangent