EU threatens Biennale funding

The European Union now says it intends to cut Venice Biennale funding over Russia’s return to the 2026 art exhibition. The European Commission said on March 10 that if the Biennale went ahead with reopening the Russian national pavilion, it would consider suspending or terminating an ongoing European Union grant to the Biennale Foundation. On April 21, European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said the bloc “intends” to make that cut. Politico reported the grant at issue is about €2 million over three years, and Euronews reported the Commission had opened a procedure that could freeze or revoke funding allocated through 2028. The 61st International Art Exhibition opens to the public on May 9, with preview days on May 6, 7 and 8. The fight has turned a curatorial decision into a European foreign-policy dispute. Brussels says culture cannot be used as a platform for propaganda while Russia continues its war against Ukraine. Russia’s pavilion would be its first at the Venice Biennale since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Interfax reported that Russia’s 2022 exhibition was canceled on February 27 of that year, and that Russia did not participate in 2024. Latvia has pushed the issue inside the European Union as well as in the art world. After the Foreign Affairs Council met in Luxembourg on April 21, Latvia said it had raised the need to bar Russia from the Biennale and sanction representatives tied to the Russian political regime. Ukraine is pressing on a second front: visas. Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiha said on April 22 that Kyiv had already sanctioned five Russian cultural figures connected to the pavilion and was asking Italy, as host country, not to issue them visas. The Biennale has defended its position by saying any state recognized by Italy is allowed to participate, according to ARTnews. That stance has left the exhibition arguing for institutional rules and artistic dialogue while European officials argue the war makes neutrality impossible. Italian politics has split over the dispute. Euronews reported that Culture Minister Alessandro Giuli signaled disapproval of Russia’s participation, while Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini called the Commission’s threat “blackmail” against a major cultural institution. With the opening days less than three weeks away, the question is no longer only who hangs work in Venice. It is whether Europe’s biggest contemporary art show can keep European Union money while reopening Russia’s pavilion during the war.