Venice Biennale tensions rise

Ukraine has turned one of the art world’s biggest national showcases into a sanctions fight weeks before the 2026 Venice Biennale preview opens on May 6. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy signed a decree targeting five Russian cultural figures tied to Russia’s pavilion for the exhibition that runs from May 9 to November 22 in Venice. (artnews.com) (labiennale.org) The five names are commissioner Anastasia Karneeva, former Russian culture minister Mikhail Shvydkoy, and three musicians in the project: Artem Nikolaev, Ilya Tatakov, and Valeria Oliinyk. Ukraine says they used international cultural events to justify Russia’s war and spread state propaganda. (kyivindependent.com) (unn.ua) Ukraine’s culture minister, Tetyana Berezhna, said Kyiv is still trying to stop Russia’s participation entirely, not just punish individuals around it. The sanctions include asset blocking, entry bans, limits on economic activity, and the termination of cultural exchanges with Ukraine. (kyivindependent.com) (interfax.com.ua) That is a sharp change from 2022, when the Russian pavilion effectively shut itself after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The artists and curator chosen then withdrew in protest, and the pavilion stayed closed that year. (artnews.com) (kyivindependent.com) This time the Biennale has kept Russia in the official lineup of 99 national participations announced on March 4. The organizers said they reject “exclusion or censorship of culture and art” and described Venice as a place of dialogue and artistic freedom. (labiennale.org) (artnews.com) Russia’s side has treated that return as a political point in itself. ARTnews reported that Shvydkoy said the pavilion would go ahead and argued that no one could deprive Russia of artistic self-expression, while Berezhna said his public comments framed the return as proof Russian culture had not been isolated. (artnews.com) (kyivindependent.com) Even the details of the Russian project underline how political the pavilion has become. ARTnews reported that the exhibition is titled “The tree is rooted in the sky” and includes more than 30 participants, but only three performers in that larger group were sanctioned. (artnews.com) Australia is arriving at the same Biennale with a different argument about politics and national representation. Creative Australia says Khaled Sabsabi and curator Michael Dagostino will represent the Australia Pavilion after the agency recommissioned them on July 2, 2025. (creative.gov.au) (abc.net.au) Sabsabi’s selection became a national scandal in February 2025 because Creative Australia first announced him, then rescinded the commission less than a week later after criticism of earlier works referencing Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and the September 11 attacks. After resignations, protests, an external review, and months of pressure, the agency reversed itself and reinstated him. (abc.net.au) (theconversation.com) So before most people have seen much of the art, two national pavilions are already being read like foreign policy documents. One pavilion is being contested through wartime sanctions, and another is being watched through the aftershock of a censorship fight inside its own country. (labiennale.org) (creative.gov.au)