The United States Pavilion at the 2026 Venice Biennale may not be able to bring its own exhibition home. With the Biennale closing on 22 November, the American Arts Conservancy, the non-profit that organised the pavilion, has raised only 1.4 million dollars of the 2.5 million needed to dismantle and ship some 30 sculptures by the artist Alma Allen, leaving a gap of 1.1 million dollars.

The problem is compounded by a lack of space. The pavilion has no storage of its own, and the Guggenheim Foundation, which owns the building, cannot house the works either. If the money is not found in time, the sculptures risk being stranded in Italy after the show closes, with nowhere to go.

The shortfall is the latest chapter in a troubled pavilion. The original artist and curator were replaced before the show opened, and the State Department then appointed the conservancy's founder, Jenni Parido, as the United States representative, with Jeffrey Uslip as curator. Allen told the New York Times that neither Parido nor Uslip had visited his studio before the works were shipped to Italy, and that he and Uslip had stopped speaking by the time the exhibition opened.

Parido has now sent an emergency fundraising appeal to potential donors, according to letters obtained by the Times. The State Department has said it provided some funding for the exhibition but is not responsible for fundraising. Allen, for his part, has said he was unaware of the conservancy's financial difficulties before the show and received only travel and accommodation support during his time in Venice.

The episode has thrown a spotlight on how the American pavilion is funded and run, and on the responsibilities that fall to artists when the institutions behind them run short of money. With days left before the Biennale closes, the question is whether donors will step in quickly enough to get the sculptures home.