[analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/GettyImages-1240102494.jpg?w=1024″]<\/p>\n
\n\tThe Russian Pavilion will be accessible to the public only during the Venice Biennale\u2019s pre-opening vernissage (May 5\u20138), Italian news outlets report, as the European Union threatens to withdraw funding from the prestigious exhibition amid mounting sanctions on Moscow.<\/p>\n
\n\tFor weeks, voices across Europe\u2019s cultural and political spheres\u2014including Italy\u2019s culture minister\u2014have urged Venice Biennale organizers to shutter the Russian Pavilion, as the country\u2019s war against Ukraine remains ongoing. Now, a compromise appears to have been reached: the pavilion will open during the preview period (May 5\u20138) for live performances tied to the exhibition \u201cThe Tree Is Rooted in the Sky.\u201d It will then close from May 9 through the remainder of the Biennale, with digital documentation of the performances presented on screens installed in the building\u2019s windows.<\/p>\n
\n\tThe plans were first reported by Italian outlets Open<\/em> and La Repubblica<\/em>, which cited email correspondence reviewed by their reporters between Biennale Foundation president Pietrangelo Buttafuoco, Biennale general director Andrea Del Mercato, and Russian Pavilion commissioner Anastasia Karneeva. According to the reports, the framework for Russia\u2019s participation began to take shape in June 2025; by January of this year, Karneeva had submitted key details of the exhibition, including didactic materials and renderings.<\/p>\n \n\tAn excerpted November 2025 email between Karneeva and Del Mercato shows the latter\u2019s efforts to help secure a travel visa for pavilion curator Petr Musoev, citing his correspondence with an official tied to Italy\u2019s diplomatic mission in Russia.<\/p>\n \n\tResponding to the published correspondence, the Biennale Foundation said in a statement to Il Giornale<\/em> on April 27 that planning for Russia\u2019s participation had been carried out with \u201cabsolute respect for the rules,\u201d adding that it had acted \u201cin strict compliance with applicable national and international laws and within the limits of its powers and responsibilities.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cNo European sanctions were circumvented, as reported in the press,\u201d the statement continued. \u201cThe sanctions were rigorously applied.\u201d The Foundation added that, in line with protocols for all national pavilions in the Giardini, \u201cthe feasibility of the Russian Federation\u2019s project and its compliance with current regulations were rigorously evaluated.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tRussia\u2019s return to the Venice Biennale\u2014its first since invading Ukraine in February 2022\u2014has provoked sharp backlash in Italy, despite the backing of Biennale president Pietrangelo Buttafuoco. Culture minister Alessandro Giuli said this week he will boycott the opening over the Russian Pavilion and called on the ministry\u2019s board representative, Tamara Gregoretti, to resign, arguing that she had failed to inform the ministry of Russia\u2019s return and had \u201cexpressed herself in favor of its participation\u2014despite being fully aware of the international sensitivity surrounding the issue.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tGregoretti has declined, emphasizing the board\u2019s independence, while Matteo Salvini, the country\u2019s deputy prime minister, also reiterated support for Moscow\u2019s participation.<\/p>\n \n\tEarlier this month, the European Union said it intended to withdraw its reported \u20ac2 million in funding for the Venice Biennale in response to Russia\u2019s return. \u201cWhile Russia bombs museums, destroys churches, and seeks to erase Ukrainian culture, it should not be allowed to exhibit its own,\u201d said Kaja Kallas, vice president of the European Commission, who described the country\u2019s inclusion as \u201cmorally wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tUkraine, which is also returning to the Venice Biennale this year, has sanctioned five individuals associated with the Russian Pavilion and has lobbied for the revocation of participants\u2019 visas.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n [analyse_source url=”https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/art-news\/news\/russian-pavilion-closure-2026-venice-biennale-reports-1234782824\/”]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" [analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/GettyImages-1240102494.jpg?w=1024″] The Russian Pavilion will be accessible to the public only during the Venice Biennale\u2019s pre-opening vernissage (May 5\u20138), Italian news outlets report, as the European Union threatens to withdraw funding from the prestigious exhibition amid mounting sanctions on Moscow. For weeks, voices across Europe\u2019s cultural and political spheres\u2014including Italy\u2019s culture minister\u2014have urged […]<\/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-1907851","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\/1907851","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=1907851"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1907851\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1907851"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1907851"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1907851"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}