Venice Biennale begins without protests and jury: NPR

The 61st Venice Biennale opened on Saturday in an atmosphere of chaos due to geopolitical conflict, attracting people to the world-renowned festival: contemporary art on display.

With the inauguration underway, dozens of artists announced their withdrawal from consideration for the awards — the latest in a wave of protests surrounding the international art program, which has historically celebrated artists such as Henri Matisse, Marc Chagall and Jackson Pollock.

Laurie Anderson, Alfredo Jaar and Zoe Leonard are among the high-profile signatories who endorsed it statement Made a comeback with national pavilions such as France, Ecuador and United Arab Emirates.

“We do this in solidarity with resignation of the jury,” the statement said, pointing to mass resignationOn April 30, the entire five-member Biennial Awards jury.

The resignations of jurors Solange Farkas, Zoe Butt, Elvira Diangani Ose, Marta Kuzma and Giovanna Zapperi followed a few days later. announced They will not award awards – including the coveted Golden Lion for Best National Pavilion – to countries whose governments or leaders have been accused of crimes against humanity by the International Criminal Court, including Israel and Russia.

This year, the biennial announced Ticket holders of the event will have the chance to choose the winners through an anonymous email-voting process. The award recipients are expected to be announced on November 22, the closing day of the biennale.

This prestigious event, featuring the work of hundreds of artists from around the world, usually attracts hundreds of thousands of visitors to the many national pavilions organized and partially funded by the governments of the participating countries.

Rowdy protests on the streets of Venice

The event is also surrounded by several large, public demonstrations on the streets of Venice.

thursday art collective cat riot They protested Russia’s return to the arts festival by storming the country’s pavilion wearing bright pink balaclava hats, blowing smoke and chanting “No Putin in Venice.” Russia was not invited to the event since 2022.

Thousands of protesters also took to the streets On Friday to protest Israel’s presence at an event regarding the war in Gaza. Some pavilions, including Japan, Finland and the UK, closed for hours while artists and curators joined the march. according to GuardianThe Israeli pavilion was closed Friday morning – but that was because of a private event.

Other countries are also caught in the geopolitical conflict over the war in Gaza.

In January, the South African pavilion was has been canceled It came after its culture minister requested that artist Gabriel Goliath edit his work to pay tribute to the Palestinian poet killed in Gaza. The artist refused and the pavilion now lies vacant.

Australian artist Khaled Sababi and curator Michael Dagostino dropped Only after right-wing politicians accused him of anti-Semitism in February, the country’s government arts advisory body restore again After feedback from the art community.

Demand for US ban

There have also been calls for a ban on the US from the festival due to anti-American sentiment due to America’s increasing involvement in recent global conflicts.

“Current circumstances demand that La Biennale di Venezia exclude any official delegations from current regimes that commit war crimes, including Israel, Russia and the United States,” says an open letter signed by 74 artists and curators sent to the Biennale’s director Pietrangelo Buttafuoco in March. republished on online art platform e-flux.

Jessica Kreps, a US-based gallerist at the Biennale, told NPR that she has been participating in the event for about 20 years. He said politics felt more present in this year’s event than in previous years.

“The Biennale should be a place for respectful dialogue,” he said. crepesA partner in the New York-based Lehman Maupin Gallery, which represents four artists at this year’s Biennale, and has offices in London and Seoul. “In many ways, freedom of expression and criticism is inherently democratic and a huge part of being American. As an American gallery our focus remains on supporting artists and creating space for thoughtful dialogue and diverse viewpoints.”

Still, the protests didn’t stop him from experiencing the event. “I feel like I’m still able to see everything,” she said. “It wasn’t like people were stopping you from going anywhere.”

history of unrest

Like other international events such as the Eurovision Song Contest and the Olympic Games, the Venice Biennial has attracted countless protests In the last few years.

The 34th Biennale took place in 1968 against the backdrop of a global student revolt. Protestors occupied Venice’s St. Mark’s Square and clashed with police, denouncing the Biennale as a “bourgeois” and “capitalist” institution.

In 1974, following the military coup in Chile that had ousted Salvador Allende the year before, the Biennale’s pro-Allende, socialist then-director, Carlo Ripa de Mina, took the unprecedented decision to cancel the national pavilions for that year. They chose to focus the event on democracy and social change rather than national representation. National pavilions returned in 1976.

And in 2022, after Russia invaded Ukraine, the curators and artists of the Russian pavilion resigned, saying “there is no place for art when civilians are dying.” The Russian pavilion remained locked and guarded by Italian police for the duration of the fair, and the Biennale hosted a temporary monument dedicated to Ukrainian artists.

The Biennale did not respond to NPR’s request for comment about this year’s unrest.