EU gives Biennale 30 days

The European Commission has given the Venice Biennale until May 11 to explain why it plans to host a Russian national pavilion or risk losing European Union funding. (artnews.com) The warning came in an April 10 letter from the European Education and Culture Executive Agency to Biennale president Pietrangelo Buttafuoco. The agency said it had opened a procedure that could suspend or terminate a €2 million grant tied to the Biennale through 2028. (artnews.com (euronews.com)) Brussels says the problem is not Russian artists in the abstract but a state-backed national pavilion during Russia’s war in Ukraine. In its March 10 statement, the Commission said culture “should never be used as a platform for propaganda” and said institutions must avoid giving space to people who support the Kremlin’s aggression. (ec.europa.eu) That dispute lands weeks before the 61st International Art Exhibition opens to the public on May 9 in Venice. The Commission’s deadline falls two days later, which means the Biennale could open with the Russian pavilion still on the program while its funding case is unresolved. (artnews.com) Russia has been absent from the Biennale since its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Its planned 2026 return would be the first official Russian national participation since then, and the proposed project has been described as a music-focused program titled *The tree is rooted in the sky*. (theartnewspaper.com) Pressure on the Biennale has built for weeks. The Art Newspaper reported on March 27 that at least 34 members of the European Parliament signed a letter urging the European Union to suspend all funding if Russia’s participation goes ahead. (theartnewspaper.com) Opposition has also come from national governments. Euronews reported that Ukraine and 22 other European Union countries protested the reopening of the Russian pavilion, while the Commission separately asked Italy’s foreign ministry on March 26 to state its position. (euronews.com) (artnews.com) Italy’s response has not been uniform. Culture minister Alessandro Giuli publicly distanced himself from the reopening, while Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini called the Commission’s funding threat “blackmail” and said Brussels was targeting a free cultural institution. (euronews.com) The Biennale now has less than a month to decide whether to defend the pavilion, change course, or risk the grant. The next formal marker is May 11, when Brussels expects its answer. (artnews.com)