Venice Biennale row

Russia will reopen its national pavilion at the 2026 Venice Biennale in May, ending a four-year absence and setting off a fight across Europe. (artnews.com) The 61st International Art Exhibition runs from May 9 to November 22, 2026, with previews on May 6, 7, and 8, at the Giardini, the Arsenale, and other Venice sites. Kremlin cultural envoy Mikhail Shvydkoy told ARTnews in March that Russia’s pavilion would open alongside the rest of the Biennale. (labiennale.org) (artnews.com) Russia last exhibited before its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. That year, artists Kirill Savchenkov and Alexandra Sukhareva and curator Raimundas Malašauskas withdrew from the Russian pavilion, and in 2024 Russia handed the Giardini building to Bolivia for its show. (artnews.com) The dispute has moved beyond the art world into European Union funding. On March 10, European Commissioners Henna Virkkunen and Glenn Micallef said the Biennale’s decision was not compatible with the European Union’s response to Russia’s war and warned that a €2 million grant could be suspended or terminated. (theartnewspaper.com) (politico.eu) A joint letter from 22 European culture and foreign ministers, including officials from France, Germany, Poland, Finland, and Ukraine, urged Biennale president Pietrangelo Buttafuoco to reconsider Russia’s participation. The ministers wrote that Russia remained under European and international sanctions for its war against Ukraine. (politico.eu) (okm.fi) Finland then raised the pressure again on April 16. Its Ministry of Education and Culture said Finland’s political leadership would not attend the Biennale if Russia is included, though Finnish public officials would still take part. (okm.fi) Biennale organizers have defended the decision in the language of artistic access, saying Venice should be a “place of dialogue” and rejecting “any form of exclusion or censorship of culture and art.” Italian Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini, responding to the European Union threat, called the funding ultimatum “truly embarrassing.” (politico.eu) (theartnewspaper.com) (rferl.org) Ukraine’s team has chosen not to stage a protest inside the exhibition. Artist Zhanna Kadyrova, who will represent Ukraine, told Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty on April 21 that her team would “focus on our message” as Russia’s pavilion reopens nearby. (rferl.org) Russia says the pavilion will feature more than 50 young musicians, poets, and philosophers from Russia and other countries. By the time the Biennale opens on May 9, the argument over one Giardini building will also be a test of how far Europe is willing to carry its wartime cultural boycott into one of art’s biggest international stages. (artnews.com)