[analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/GettyImages-1240129621.jpg?w=1024″]<\/p>\n
\n\tThe European Commission, an independent arm of the EU responsible for enforcing EU law, has given the Venice Biennale 30 days to \u201cclear its name\u201d regarding the inclusion of the Russian Pavilion in the 2026 edition, according to a report by La Repubblica<\/em>, which reviewed the letter.<\/p>\n \n\tThe letter, invoking the charge that the Biennale had violated EU sanctions against Russia, asks the exhibition to \u201crespond to these allegations\u201d and \u201cinform us of any corrective measures you intend to adopt.\u201d At stake is a \u20ac2 million ($2.3 million) grant that the commission is prepared to \u201csuspend or terminate\u201d entirely that would go toward the realization of the 2028 edition. If the Biennale reverses course on Russia\u2019s inclusion, the commission will almost certainly move forward with disbursing the grant.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cIn our view,\u201d the letter reads, \u201cthe fact that\u2014within the context of Russia\u2019s war of aggression against Ukraine\u2014the Biennale accepted the participation of Russian artists as a \u2018governmental delegation\u2019 (whose participation is entirely funded and promoted by the Russian government) via a national pavilion implies that the Biennale appears to have accepted indirect support from the Russian government in exchange for granting a cultural platform.\u201d \u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tThe EU Commission\u2019s Education and Culture Executive Agency sent the letter to Biennale president Pietrangelo Buttafuoco on Friday, April 10, with a deadline to respond of May 11, or two days after the Biennale\u2019s public opening on May 9.<\/p>\n \n\tThe European Commission has also directly reached out to Italy\u2019s foreign ministry, via a March 26 letter, according to Repubblica<\/em>. That letter similarly asks for the ministry to state its position on Russia\u2019s inclusion, as \u201cthe pavilion could serve as a platform for messages sponsored\u201d by Russia or \u201cotherwise contribute to the circumvention of EU sanctions.\u201d The commission asked for a response within a week, but reportedly has not received one. The ministry told Repubblica<\/em> that it is still working on its response.<\/p>\n \n\tPer Repubblica<\/em>, the foreign ministry is now coordinating with the culture ministry to formulate the response, with the latter department having sent over all the documents it had received from the Biennale. That response might be released earlier than the May 11 deadline, as the EU Foreign Affairs Council has an April 21 meeting with Russia\u2019s inclusion on its agenda that Italy is expected to testify on.<\/p>\n \n\tThe Biennale\u2019s decision is also expected to come up this week when Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky meets Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni at the Palazzo Chigi in Rome on Wednesday. Zelensky\u2019s government last week announced sanctions against five Russian culture figures who are involved in the 2026 Russian Pavilion, including its commissioner, Anastasia Karneeva. \u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tSo far, Meloni has avoided taking a position on Russia\u2019s inclusion, though she has stressed the Biennale\u2019s autonomy in its decision-making from the Italian government. Repubblica<\/em> notes that Meloni\u2019s attendance at the May 9 public opening is currently uncertain.<\/p>\n \n\tMatteo Salvini, Meloni\u2019s deputy prime minister, called the European Commission\u2019s threat to withhold funds \u201cvulgar blackmail that is allegedly being carried out by the European bureaucracy,\u201d adding \u201cWe are truly at madness,\u201d according to Euro News<\/em>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n [analyse_source url=”https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/art-news\/news\/european-commission-letter-venice-biennale-russian-pavilion-1234781084\/”]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" [analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/GettyImages-1240129621.jpg?w=1024″] The European Commission, an independent arm of the EU responsible for enforcing EU law, has given the Venice Biennale 30 days to \u201cclear its name\u201d regarding the inclusion of the Russian Pavilion in the 2026 edition, according to a report by La Repubblica, which reviewed the letter. The letter, invoking the charge […]<\/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-1880429","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\/1880429","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=1880429"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1880429\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1880429"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1880429"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1880429"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}