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\n\tThe Venice Biennale will not exclude Russia from its events due to political pressure, the foundation\u2019s president said Thursday in a public address criticizing the European Union\u2019s recent confirmation that it will suspend a \u20ac2 million ($2.3 million) grant. The withdrawal of funding was made in response to Russia\u2019s participation in this year\u2019s Biennale for the first time since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.<\/p>\n
\n\tDuring the opening of the 2026 Venice Film Festival, Biennale president Pietrangelo Buttafuoco said the EU \u201dwas \u2060a fellow traveler with whom we shared part of a journey, \u200band who is now leaving us for reasons that are entirely \u200bpolitical, certainly not legal, and still less cultural.\u201d The news was first reported by Reuters.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n\tEarlier this week, the European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA) announced the suspension of funding after a legal review determined that EU taxpayers\u2019 money should be spent on initiatives aligned with democratic values, which it said Russia does not uphold. The decision echoes a recommendation from the European Commission, which said that \u201cdiversity and freedom of expression\u201d are \u201cnot respected in today\u2019s Russia.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tThe Venice Biennale, a prestigious arts exhibition held every two years, includes national pavilions representing countries from around the world. The Biennale has stressed that EU funding accounts for only a sliver of its budget and that some of the money supported projects unrelated to Russia.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cWe are called here to pursue international research in the arts and to respond to \u200btheir demands. Otherwise we would betray the principles \u200bof autonomy, \u2060freedom of expression, research, creativity, and imagination that have defined this institution for 131 years,\u201d Buttafuoco added.<\/p>\n
\n\tRussia\u2019s participation has been a flashpoint for debate within EU creative and political circles since before the Biennale opened in early May. Some 22 high-ranking politicians representing European nations signed an open letter calling Russia\u2019s presence \u201cdeeply troubling.\u201d In April, Ukraine imposed sanctions on five Russian cultural figures involved in organizing the country\u2019s contribution.<\/p>\n
\n\tThat same month, the European Commission gave the Biennale 30 days to \u201cclear its name\u201d over Russia\u2019s presence. In a letter sent to the Biennale at the time, the Commission said it believed \u201cthe pavilion could serve as a platform for messages sponsored\u201d by Russia or \u201cotherwise contribute to the circumvention of EU sanctions.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tThe Biennale said it could not exclude Russia from the festival, arguing that doing so would amount to censorship. The position appeared to conflict with statements the Biennale made in 2022, when it expressed support for Ukraine after Russia\u2019s artist representatives withdrew in protest of the war waged by their country, further fueling criticism.<\/p>\n
\n\tThe Kremlin meanwhile denounced the European Commission, telling the state-run TASS news agency, \u201cAs regards the Venice Biennale, I can only express regret over ongoing attempts to cancel our culture in other countries.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tThe Biennale opening dates were marked by protests against the Russian and Israeli pavilions. Activists in pink balaclavas led by Nadya Tolokonnikova and other members of Pussy Riot, together with the feminist dissent group FEMEN, shot smoke flares and waved Ukrainian flags outside the Russian pavilion, chanting anti-war slogans.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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[analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/GettyImages-2274724637_ae0222.jpg?w=1024″] The Venice Biennale will not exclude Russia from its events due to political pressure, the foundation\u2019s president said Thursday in a public address criticizing the European Union\u2019s recent confirmation that it will suspend a \u20ac2 million ($2.3 million) grant. The withdrawal of funding was made in response to Russia\u2019s participation in this […]<\/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-2061819","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\/2061819","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=2061819"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2061819\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2061819"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2061819"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2061819"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}