[analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/alessandroguili.jpg?w=1024″]<\/p>\n
\n\tThe Venice Biennale is standing by its polarizing decision to ignore calls to ban Russia from taking part in this year\u2019s exhibition, insisting it hasn\u2019t broken any rules.<\/p>\n
\n\tIn a statement released on Tuesday, the biennale\u2019s organizers said they\u2019ve fully complied with all sanctions imposed on Moscow after its invasion of Ukraine in 2022. \u201cNo regulations have been violated,\u201d they said, adding that the Italian culture ministry has been provided with documentation to back up their stance.<\/p>\n
The move has sparked a major backlash. The European Commission recently warned that allowing Russia to participate could put EU funding for the biennale at risk. Italy\u2019s culture minister, Alessandro Giuli, has also urged organizers to reconsider and revoke the invitation altogether.<\/p>\n
\n\tBut the biennale isn\u2019t backing down, and it\u2019s found some political support at home. Matteo Salvini, Italy\u2019s deputy premier and leader of the League party, defended the decision, arguing that art and culture should bring people together, not deepen divisions.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cI believe art, music, and sport should unite cultures, not inflame conflicts,\u201d Salvini said in a recent radio interview. He added that the biennale was right to welcome all participants, including dissident artists.<\/p>\n
Salvini also pointed to what he sees as a broader trend, noting that a recent invitation to Russian ballerina Svetlana Zakharova for a dance festival in Rome had been withdrawn. \u201cIt feels like we\u2019re seeing a kind of Russophobia,\u201d he said. His comments are notable given his past admiration for Russian President Vladimir Putin prior to the 2022 invasion of Ukraine, a stance that has drawn scrutiny in light of the ongoing war. <\/p>\n
\n\tMikhail Shvydkoy, Russia\u2019s delegate for international cultural exchanges and the country\u2019s former culture minister, told ARTnews<\/em> that he expects the Russia pavilion to continue as planned. \u201cVarious sanctions may be devised, and official Western institutions may be prohibited from working with us, but no one can deprive Russia of the right to artistic self-expression,\u201d he told ARTnews<\/em>. He added he believes the biennale\u2019s leadership has shown that it is \u201cready to seek a compromise [to ensure the pavilion remains open], naturally without wishing to jeopardize the work of the entire Venice Biennale.\u201d<\/p>\n Russia has not partcipated in the Biennale since its invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Its proposed reopening has drawn widespread outrage\u00a0, with over 8,500 people signing an open letter calling on the biennale\u2019s top brass to \u201caddress the implications\u201d of Russia\u2019s participation.<\/p>\n The biennale said publicly that it rejects \u201cany form of exclusion or censorship of culture and art.\u201d The organization added that the exhibition should remain \u201ca place of dialogue, openness, and artistic freedom,\u201d even as geopolitical tensions persist.\u00a0<\/p>\n When asked earlier about Russia\u2019s participation, a biennale representative told ARTnews<\/em>, \u201cAs a general premise, La Biennale di Venezia does not decide on national participation; countries themselves choose whether to take part.\u201d<\/p>\n Russia is not the only country drawing controversy at Venice. Earlier this week, the activist group Art Not Genocide Alliance published another open letter demanding that the biennale block Israel from participating in this year\u2019s exhibition. The letter has been signed by nearly 200 artists, curators, and arts workers associated with this year\u2019s edition of the biennale.<\/p>\n Among the signatories to the letter are curators Gabe Beckhurst Feijoo and Rasha Salti, two members of the team tasked with realizing the vision of the late curator\u00a0Koyo Kouoh. Kouoh died last May just months after being announced as the curator of the\u00a02026 Venice Biennale. \u00a0There are also dozens of artists included in the main exhibition, \u201cIn Minor Keys,\u201d who signed the letter, as well as artists or curators associated with the pavilions of Belgium, Brazil, Bulgaria, France, Peru, Poland, Spain, Switzerland, and other countries. Twelve artists and curators from other pavilions have signed the letter anonymously, fearing \u201cpossible physical, political, or legal harms from signing publicly,\u201d the letter explains. \u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n [analyse_source url=”https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/art-news\/news\/venice-biennale-no-sanctions-broken-russia-pavilion-1234777769\/”]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" [analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/alessandroguili.jpg?w=1024″] The Venice Biennale is standing by its polarizing decision to ignore calls to ban Russia from taking part in this year\u2019s exhibition, insisting it hasn\u2019t broken any rules. In a statement released on Tuesday, the biennale\u2019s organizers said they\u2019ve fully complied with all sanctions imposed on Moscow after its invasion of Ukraine […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[61,226],"class_list":["post-1834514","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-artnews-com","tag-crawlmanager"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1834514","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1834514"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1834514\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1834514"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1834514"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1834514"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}