[analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Free-Palestine-banner.jpeg?w=1024″]<\/p>\n
\n\tThe cultural activist group that led a historic strike and rally at this year\u2019s Venice Biennale over Israel\u2019s inclusion in the international exhibition has called for a mass mobilization on July 17, when the US Ambassador to Italy, Tilman Fertitta, is scheduled to arrive in Venice.<\/p>\n
\n\tThe group, Art Not Genocide Alliance (ANGA), announced the action in an Instagram post published today, inviting supporters to gather at 4 p.m. at Campo San Zaccaria, a square in central Venice just steps from the Church of San Zaccaria, where Fertitta\u2019s yacht is expected to dock. In addition to being an ambassador, Fetitta is also the largest shareholder of Wynn Resorts and the cousin of brothers Frank J. Fertitta III and Lorenzo\u00a0Fertitta, two of the world\u2019s top art collectors. <\/p>\n
\n\tThe statement reiterated ANGA\u2019s opposition to US involvement in Palestine, writing that the US \u201ccontinues to arm, finance and politically shield Israel\u2019s genocide in Palestine.\u201d (An independent United Nations commission has characterized Israel\u2019s actions in Palestine as genocide.)<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cFor us, this is not a separate struggle. It is part of the same political trajectory that has connected the strikes for Palestine in the autumn of 2025, the mobilizations in support of the Freedom Flotilla, and our campaign to boycott the Genocide Pavilion at the Venice Biennale,\u201d the statement reads.<\/p>\n
\n\tANGA is an international coalition of artists, curators, writers, and cultural workers that formed in early 2024 in opposition to Israel\u2019s participation in that year\u2019s Venice Biennale. The group carried its campaign into the following edition of the Biennale, culminating in a 24-hour strike at the prestigious event: thousands of cultural workers marched through the streets of Venice on May 8, the eve of its public opening.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n\tANGA reported that more than 20 national pavilions in the Giardini partially closed in response to the strike, while others remained closed for the entire day, including the high-profile Austrian and Japanese pavilions. The strike followed an artist-led demonstration staged on May 5, during the event\u2019s professional pre-opening. Titled \u201cSolidarity Drone Chorus,\u201d the action brought together some 60 artists at the entrance to the Giardini to hum \u201cDrone Song,\u201d a viral composition by Gazan composer and music teacher Ahmed \u201cMuin\u201d Abu Amsha, in an effort to \u201csonically occupy space,\u201d according to a press statement.<\/p>\n
\n\tMany of the participating artists were among the nearly 200 artists, curators, and arts workers associated with this year\u2019s Biennale who signed an open letter published by ANGA in March calling for Israel\u2019s exclusion.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n\tArtist Carolina Caycedo, who organized the action, told ARTnews<\/em> at the time that it was \u201ca way for us to show our discontent and our disgust with the politics that happen underneath the Biennale, and the refusal of the Biennale to be held accountable.\u201d She added that the group\u2019s ultimate goal was \u201cuplifting the voices of Palestinian artists and centering them in the conversation.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tANGA echoed the sentiment in today\u2019s announcement: \u201cFrom the boycott of the Genocide Pavilion to the protest against Fertitta, our message remains the same: no business as usual with genocide.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n [analyse_source url=”https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/art-news\/news\/pro-palestine-strike-over-us-ambassador-visit-to-venice-1234791414\/”]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" [analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Free-Palestine-banner.jpeg?w=1024″] The cultural activist group that led a historic strike and rally at this year\u2019s Venice Biennale over Israel\u2019s inclusion in the international exhibition has called for a mass mobilization on July 17, when the US Ambassador to Italy, Tilman Fertitta, is scheduled to arrive in Venice. The group, Art Not Genocide Alliance […]<\/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-2033986","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\/2033986","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=2033986"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2033986\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2033986"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2033986"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2033986"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}