FILE – A private security officer stands next to Russia’s closed pavilion at the 59th Art Biennial art exhibition in Venice, Italy, Tuesday, April 19, 2022.
Antonio Callani/AP
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Antonio Callani/AP
MILAN – The international jury of the Venice Biennale resigned on Thursday, just nine days before the opening of the world’s oldest and most important contemporary art fair, amid tension over Russia’s participation and the panel’s decision to bar awards to countries accused of crimes against humanity.
The Biennale said in a statement that president Solange Farkas and the jury composed of Zoe Butt, Elvira Diangani Osse, Marta Kuzma and Giovanna Zapperi had resigned. The brief statement offered no explanation for the highly unusual move.
It comes just days after the jury announced it would not award awards to countries accused of crimes against humanity by the International Criminal Court. This includes Israel and Russia, whose participation in the first biennium since its invasion of Ukraine in 2022 has been opposed by the Italian government.
Russia’s participation has been a particular sore point, with Culture Minister Alessandro Giuli saying he will not attend a preview of the exhibition next week or on opening day on May 9.
Despite a visit Wednesday by cultural ministry officials to gather information about reopening the Russian pavilion, the Biennale’s director, Pietrangelo Buttafuoco, has refused to back down from allowing Russia to participate.
The Culture Ministry said the purpose of the officials’ visit was to collect documents to respond to an EU request for information, after the biennale’s funding was cut by 2 million euros last week due to Russia’s involvement. It said the ministry had no role in the jury’s resignation.
Meanwhile, Giuli has demonstrated strong support for Israel. The minister spoke by phone with Israeli pavilion artist Belu-Simion Fainaru on Wednesday to express solidarity with the “recent attacks”.
“The minister also reaffirmed the Italian government’s commitment against all forms of discrimination and anti-Semitism in Italian cultural institutions,” his office said in a statement.
Fainaru said in a statement that he “opposes discrimination, racism and exclusion in all their forms. I believe in the fundamental principles of freedom of creation and freedom of expression, which should remain at the core of any artistic platform.”
The jury was to select the winners of the highly coveted Golden Lion for Best National Pavilion and Best Participant in the Main Curated Show on the official opening day on 9 May.
Instead, the Biennale announced that visitors would select the winners of two awards: Best Participant in the 61st Exhibition “In Minor Keys”, which was organized according to the plan of the late Koyo Kouh, and Best National Participation among the 100 national pavilions. This will be awarded on the closing day on 22nd November.
When asked about the resignations, Premier Giorgia Meloni reiterated that the government does not agree with the Biennale’s decision to allow Russians to participate, but accepts the Biennale’s autonomy. His government appointed Buttafuoco.
He said he did not know whether the resignations were linked to the culture ministry’s decision to send inspectors to Venice.
Cabinet Minister Matteo Salvini supported the decision to award prizes to the winners by the visitors.
“So it will be an autonomous and democratic biennale,” he said. “It doesn’t get any better than this.”
The Biennale has in the past refused pressure to exclude countries including Iran and Israel from participating and reiterated this year that it “does not have the right to prevent any country from participating. Any country recognized by the Italian Republic may request to participate.”
The Biennale said that, since Russia owns the pavilion built in 1914 in the historic Giardini, it needed only to send notification of its request to participate.
Russian artists withdrew their participation in 2022, and Russia did not present an exhibition in 2024 for its permanent pavilion, which it loaned to Bolivia. Russia last participated in the international art exhibition in 2019.
The Biennale is the world’s oldest and most important contemporary art exhibition, consisting of a main curated exhibition with national pavilions, which are separately curated by the participating countries.
