The 61st Venice Biennale opens amid protests tied to Israel, Russia and calls to exclude the U.S., as awards rules and jury politics shift.
The 61st Venice Biennale has opened to a storm of anger and disruption, with geopolitical disputes spilling out of the galleries and into the streets of Venice, and U.S. involvement now drawing its own backlash.
Right as the world-renowned contemporary art festival began this weekend. dozens of artists announced they would withdraw from consideration for awards—an escalation in a broader wave of protest around the event that has historically highlighted major modern and contemporary names.. Among the signatories were high-profile artists Laurie Anderson. Alfredo Jaar and Zoe Leonard. while several national pavilions. including those representing France. Ecuador and the United Arab Emirates. also backed the withdrawal.
“We do so in solidarity with the resignation of the jury. ” the artists and partners said in a statement. referencing a mass resignation on April 30 of the Biennale’s entire five-member awards jury.. The jury members—Solange Farkas. Zoe Butt. Elvira Dyangani Ose. Marta Kuzma and Giovanna Zapperi—stepped down days after they said they would not award prizes. including the Golden Lion for the best national pavilion. to countries whose governments or leaders have been charged with crimes against humanity by the International Criminal Court. citing Israel and Russia in particular.
This year’s Biennale also made a procedural change intended to reshape how winners are chosen.. Ticket-holders will be able to vote on award recipients through an anonymous email process.. Awards are expected to be announced on Nov.. 22, the festival’s closing day, even as the jury turmoil and artist withdrawals continue to frame the opening weeks.
The Biennale typically draws hundreds of thousands of visitors. and it is built around national pavilions—spaces organized and partially funded by the governments of the participating countries.. That mix of state-backed representation and global visibility is part of why international conflicts often become impossible to keep out of the conversation. with protests frequently aimed as much at political legitimacy as at the art itself.
Protesters’ focus this year has included Russia’s return after its absence following the 2022 invasion of Ukraine.. On Thursday. the art collective Pussy Riot staged a disruption at the Russian pavilion. storming the space while wearing bright pink balaclava hats. setting off smoke flares and chanting “No Putin in Venice.” Russia had not been invited back since 2022.
On Friday. demonstrators also targeted the event over Israel’s presence amid the war in Gaza. with thousands taking to the streets.. Some national pavilions—including those representing Japan. Finland and the UK—shuttered for hours as artists and curators joined the march.. The Israeli pavilion was reported to have been closed Friday morning. though that closure was attributed to a private event rather than direct interference.
The protest climate has also extended beyond the pavilions that remain fully staffed.. In January. the South African pavilion was canceled after the country’s culture minister asked artist Gabrielle Goliath to edit her work to remove tributes to a Palestinian poet killed in Gaza.. The artist refused, and the pavilion later stood empty.. In February. Australia’s Khaled Sabsabi and curator Michael Dagostino were dropped by the country’s government arts advisory body following accusations by right-wing politicians of antisemitism. only to be reinstated after backlash from the broader arts community.
Against that background. calls have surfaced for the United States to be banned from the Biennale—partly driven by anti-U.S.. sentiment tied to Washington’s role in recent global conflicts.. In a letter sent to Biennale director Pietrangelo Buttafuoco and reprinted on the online art platform e-flux. 74 artists and curators argued that the Biennale should exclude official delegations from current regimes committing war crimes. explicitly naming Israel. Russia and the United States.
A U.S.-based gallerist at the Biennale described the mood as more overtly political than in prior years. while still defending the festival as a place for debate.. Jessica Kreps. associated with the New York-based Lehmann Maupin gallery and attending the event on and off for roughly two decades. said the lead-up felt more politically charged this year than before.
Kreps framed the protest energy in terms of American political identity and artistic freedom. saying the Biennale should remain a space for respectful dialogue and that dissent and critique are part of democratic expression.. She said her gallery’s focus continues to be on supporting artists and creating room for thoughtful engagement with different viewpoints.. Still, she said the demonstrations did not prevent her from seeing the full range of work.
The Biennale’s turmoil is not unprecedented in the festival’s long history, and past controversies show how quickly global politics can turn a cultural event into a flashpoint. Like other international competitions and showcases, the Biennale has repeatedly attracted protests over the years.
In 1968, the 34th Biennale took place amid student uprisings around the world, with protesters occupying St.. Mark’s Square in Venice and clashing with police while denouncing the Biennale as “bourgeois” and “capitalist.” A different form of political contestation emerged in 1974. when—after Chile’s military coup ousted Salvador Allende—the Biennale’s Allende-sympathizing. socialist then-director Carlo Ripa di Meana canceled national pavilions for that year.. He chose to concentrate the event on democracy and social change instead of national representation, and pavilions returned in 1976.
The festival’s most direct recent precedent for today’s protests came in 2022, after Russia invaded Ukraine.. That year. the curators and artists of the Russian Pavilion resigned. saying there was “no place for art when civilians are dying.” The pavilion remained padlocked and guarded by Italian police during the fair. and the Biennale organized a temporary monument dedicated to Ukrainian artists.
For this year, the Biennale did not respond to a request for comment about the unfolding unrest, leaving artists, curators and protesters to drive the public narrative as the awards process and street demonstrations run in parallel.
For U.S.. policymakers and the U.S.. public. the significance is less about whether Washington’s delegation will participate in a purely symbolic sense. and more about what the protests reveal: international institutions increasingly function as arenas where foreign policy disagreements. legal claims and moral arguments are tested in real time—on opening nights. in public squares. and through who is allowed to be represented.
Venice Biennale protests U.S. ban request Golden Lion vote Russia pavilion Israel Gaza demonstration