The Venice Biennale is standing by its polarizing decision to ignore calls to ban Russia from this year’s exhibition, insisting it has not broken any rules.
Biennale organizers said in a statement released on Tuesday that they fully complied with all sanctions imposed by Moscow following its 2022 invasion of Ukraine. “No rules have been violated,” they said, adding that Italy’s Culture Ministry had obtained documents supporting its position.
The move sparked a backlash. The European Commission recently warned that allowing Russia to participate could put EU funding for the biennale at risk. Italian Culture Minister Alessandro Giulio also urged organizers to reconsider and withdraw the invitation entirely.
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But the Biennale is undeterred and has found some political support at home. Matteo Salvini, Italy’s deputy prime minister and leader of the League party, defended the decision, arguing that arts and culture should bring people together rather than deepen divisions.
“I believe that art, music and sport should unite cultures and not inflame conflicts,” Salvini said in a recent radio interview. He added that the Biennale was right to welcome all participants, including dissident artists.
Salvini also pointed to what he saw as a broader trend, noting that a recent invitation to Russian ballerina Svetlana Zakharova to the Rome Dance Festival had been withdrawn. “It feels like we’re seeing a kind of Russophobia,” he said. His comments were noteworthy given his admiration for Russian President Vladimir Putin ahead of his 2022 invasion of Ukraine, a stance that is being closely watched in light of the current war.
Mikhail Shvydkoy, Russia’s representative for international cultural exchange and former Russian Minister of Culture, said art news He expected that the Russian pavilion would continue as planned. “Various sanctions may be enacted, Western official institutions may be banned from cooperating with us, but no one can deprive Russia of its right to artistic self-expression,” he told reporters. art news. He added that he believed the Biennale’s leadership had shown it was “ready to seek compromises (to ensure the pavilions remain open) and certainly does not want to jeopardize the work of the entire Venice Biennale.”
Russia has not participated in the biennale since its invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Its proposal to reopen sparked widespread outrage, with more than 8,500 people signing an open letter calling on the biennale’s brass to “address” the impact of Russia’s involvement.
The Biennale has publicly stated that it rejects “any form of exclusion or censorship of culture and art.” The organization added that even as geopolitical tensions persist, exhibitions should remain “a place for dialogue, openness and artistic freedom.”
When asked earlier about Russia’s involvement, a Biennale representative told art news“As a general premise, the Venice Biennale does not determine national participation; each country chooses whether to participate.”
Russia is not the only country causing controversy in Venice. Earlier this week, activist group Art Not Genocide Alliance published another open letter asking the biennale to prevent Israel from participating in this year’s exhibition. The letter has been signed by nearly 200 artists, curators and arts workers associated with this year’s Biennale.
Signatories of the letter include curators Gabe Beckhurst Feijoo and Rasha Salti, two members of the team responsible for realizing the vision of the late curator Koyo Kouoh. Kouoh died last May, just months after being announced as curator of the 2026 Venice Biennale. The letter was also signed by dozens of artists from the main exhibition “In Minor Keys”, as well as artists or curators associated with pavilions in Belgium, Brazil, Bulgaria, France, Peru, Poland, Spain, Switzerland and other countries. The letter explains that 12 artists and curators from other galleries signed the letter anonymously because they feared “physical, political or legal harm could result from publishing their signatures.”
