Biennale’s Jury and Politics
- Organizers announced the International Jury for Biennale Arte 2026 and scheduled the Awards Ceremony for May 9. (labiennale.org) - The jury will be led by Solange Oliveira Farkas, with Zoe Butt listed among the named members. (labiennale.org) - The EU says it intends to cut Biennale funding over the Russian Pavilion controversy, increasing political pressure on organizers. ( )
La Biennale di Venezia has named the five-member jury for Biennale Arte 2026 as European Union pressure mounts over Russia’s return to the exhibition. (labiennale.org; artnews.com) The jury will be chaired by Solange Oliveira Farkas, and the other members are Zoe Butt, Elvira Dyangani Ose, Marta Kuzma, and Giovanna Zapperi, according to the Biennale’s April 22 announcement. The awards ceremony is scheduled for Saturday, May 9, 2026. (labiennale.org) Biennale Arte 2026, titled *In Minor Keys*, opens to the public on May 9 and runs through November 22 in Venice, with pre-opening days set for May 6, 7, and 8. The main exhibition is curated by Koyo Kouoh and will include 110 invited participants. (labiennale.org; labiennale.org) The jury announcement lands after weeks of dispute over the Russian Pavilion, which is set to return to the Biennale for the first time since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. European politicians, Ukrainian officials, artists, and curators have criticized that decision. (artnews.com; artnews.com) On April 22, European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said the European Union “intends” to cut funding to the Biennale over the pavilion, according to reports cited by ARTnews and *The Guardian*. Earlier, European Commission officials had also warned that staging the pavilion could conflict with the bloc’s response to Russia’s war in Ukraine. (artnews.com; theguardian.com; artnews.com) The European Commission’s Education and Culture Executive Agency separately gave Biennale president Pietrangelo Buttafuoco 30 days to respond to questions about whether the Russian Pavilion could amount to indirect support from the Russian government. ARTnews reported that the letter was sent April 10 and set a May 11 deadline. (artnews.com) The Biennale has defended its position by saying any country recognized by Italy can have a national pavilion and that the exhibition rejects “any form of exclusion or censorship of culture and art,” according to ARTnews. That response has not stopped calls from some European lawmakers to strip the event of European Union support. (artnews.com; artnews.com) That leaves the Biennale heading into its May 9 opening with two tracks running at once: prize decisions from a newly named jury, and a funding fight tied to the politics of national representation. (labiennale.org; artnews.com)
