Campaign group Art Not Genocide Alliance published an open letter this week asking the Venice 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.”
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“We, the undersigned, are united as artists, curators and arts workers in our collective refusal to allow you to provide a platform for the Israeli state to commit genocide,” the letter reads. “We do this in support of Palestinian artists and cultural workers, in solidarity with Palestine, and in our deep desire to end Zionist genocide and ongoing apartheid and rebirth a free Palestine.”
The letter also reads, “In 2024, the outrage over the inclusion of a genocidal state in an art biennale was so intense that the Israeli pavilion was forced to close. As we approach a shocking anniversary – two and a half years since the open genocide against Palestine – and 77 years after the Nakba, the state of Israel is once again seeking the legitimacy of the Biennale, disguising it as a creator, rather than a destroyer, of life and culture.”
ANGA published a similar letter ahead of the 2024 Biennale, ultimately gaining more than 20,000 signatories. In April of the same year, the artist Ruth Patil, who was selected to represent Israel, announced that she would hold an exhibition at the Israel Pavilion until Israel and Hamas reached a “ceasefire and hostage release agreement.” This did not happen before the exhibition closed in November of that year, and the Israel Pavilion never opened. Protests continued outside the pavilion during the Biennale’s professional preview days and its public opening in April 2024.
Israel’s contribution to this year’s Biennale will not take place at its pavilion in Giardini (which is said to be under renovation), but at the Biennale’s other main venue, the Armory. by phone with art newsHaifa-based artist Belu-Simion Fainaru, who will represent Israel, said he actually sees the new venue as a positive change, adding that he is excited to exhibit alongside countries such as the United Arab Emirates, Turkey and Saudi Arabia, which all have pavilions at the Armory.
Israel’s participation is not the only controversy the biennale has faced. Earlier this month, Russia announced plans to reopen its pavilion for the first time since its 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
The move sparked widespread outrage, with more than 8,500 people signing a separate open letter calling on biennale brass to “address” the impact of Russia’s involvement.
The biennale has so far rallied against those protesting against Russian and Israeli participation and has publicly stated its rejection of “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.”
The answer did little to quell the controversy. Last week, 22 culture ministers signed a letter asking Biennale president Pietrangelo Buttafuoco to reconsider Russia’s participation, warning that giving Russia such a visible cultural stage could make things appear “normal” while the war in Ukraine is still ongoing.
EU officials also weighed in. Technical Commissioner Henna Virkkunen and Culture Commissioner Glenn Micallef said in a joint statement that the move could put about 2 million euros in EU funding at risk, adding that the move was inconsistent with the EU’s broader response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The participation of Russia, Israel and Iran – not to mention the United States – in the midst of an ongoing war raises serious questions about the Biennale’s stated goals of “neutrality”. as art news Senior editor Alex Greenberg wrote in an opinion column last week that no art exhibition can truly be “neutral” and that the biennial should now develop ethical standards for promoting such controversy, as other international events such as the Olympics have long done.
