[analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/GettyImages-2147875751.jpg?w=1024″]<\/p>\n
\n\tOnly days before the opening of the 61st Venice Biennale, Italian culture minister Alessandro Giuli has launched his long-teased investigation into the Russian Pavilion. Italian media reported today that an inspector sent by the minister to Venice has set up an office in Ca\u2019 Giustinian, a palazzo on the Grand Canal in San Marco, and has demanded full access to all records related to Moscow\u2019s presence at the exhibition.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n\tAccording to La Stampa<\/em>, the investigation is focused on any \u201cirregularities\u201d in documentation significant enough to prevent the pavilion from opening to the public on May 9, including issues related to entry visas obtained for the Russian artists and their delegation. In response, a source reportedly close to Venice Biennale president Pietrangelo Buttafuoco expressed confidence that no regulations were violated in relation to the Russian Pavilion, and that the parties involved in its planning had cooperated with full transparency with the Italian Culture Ministry.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tAmong the reported justifications for the inspection is the decision by the Biennale\u2019s international jury to exclude Russia and Israel from any awards on the grounds that their leaders are \u201caccused of crimes against humanity.\u201d The inspection also raises the possibility of further escalation on the ministry\u2019s part, as the next potential step would be to place the institution under special administration\u2014a move that would significantly expand the inspector\u2019s access to documentation pertaining not only to Russia, but also to Israel.\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tThe Russian Pavilion has become a lightning rod for political controversy in the weeks leading up to the opening of the Biennale, with voices across Europe\u2019s arts and culture sectors urging its exclusion as the country\u2019s war against Ukraine continues. Earlier this week, reports emerged that the pavilion will be accessible to the public only during the Biennale\u2019s pre-opening vernissage (May 5\u20138), seemingly in compliance with international sanctions against Moscow. A performance tied to the pavilion\u2019s exhibition, The Tree Is Rooted in the Sky<\/em>, will be staged for preview attendees, after which the building will close for 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 news outlets, which cited email correspondence reviewed by their reporters between Biennale president 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, while an excerpt from a November 2025 email exchange 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\tThe Biennale Foundation responded to the published correspondence,\u00a0saying 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\tGiuli, however, has maintained steadfast opposition to the Russian Pavilion, announcing earlier this week that\u00a0he will neither travel to Venice for the preview of the exhibition nor attend its opening ceremony on May 9. He previously called on the culture ministry\u2019s representative on the Biennale\u2019s board of directors, Tamara Gregoretti, to resign; she resolutely declined.\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tEarlier this month, the European Union cut its annual funding to the Venice Biennale\u2014reportedly $2.3 million\u2014citing the roughly 15,000 Ukrainian civilians who have died as a result of Russia\u2019s invasion since 2022.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n [analyse_source url=”https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/art-news\/news\/italian-culture-minister-launches-inspection-russian-pavilion-1234783173\/”]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" [analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/GettyImages-2147875751.jpg?w=1024″] Only days before the opening of the 61st Venice Biennale, Italian culture minister Alessandro Giuli has launched his long-teased investigation into the Russian Pavilion. Italian media reported today that an inspector sent by the minister to Venice has set up an office in Ca\u2019 Giustinian, a palazzo on the Grand Canal in […]<\/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-1911187","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\/1911187","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=1911187"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1911187\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1911187"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1911187"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1911187"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}