Venice Biennale row
The 2026 Venice Biennale has allowed artists with Kremlin ties to exhibit, triggering international backlash over political influence in the arts (united24media.com). Venice mayor Luigi Brugnaro warned he'll close the Russian Pavilion if it's used for propaganda, putting the pavilion under immediate political scrutiny (ansa.it).
The Russian national project is titled “The Tree Is Rooted in the Sky” and the pavilion’s program lists more than 50 poets, musicians and interdisciplinary artists for the Giardini show running May 9–Nov 22, 2026. (artnet.com; labiennale.org) (news.artnet.com) Anastasia Karneeva is named as the pavilion’s commissioner — she was appointed in 2021 for a multi‑year term, co‑founded the consultancy Smart Art and is the daughter of Nikolai Volobuyev, a retired general and former Rostec deputy. (artreview.com; finestresullarte.info) (artreview.com) Vladimir Putin’s cultural envoy Mikhail Shvydkoy, a former Russian culture minister and the state’s special representative for international cultural cooperation, has publicly defended the project and said Russia “never left” the Biennale. (artnews.com; finestresullarte.info) (artnews.com) On March 10 the European Commission warned it would “examine further action, including the suspension or termination” of an ongoing EU grant to the Fondazione Biennale — a subsidy the Financial Times values at about €2 million. (theartnewspaper.com) (theartnewspaper.com) An open petition opposing Russia’s pavilion has drawn over 6,000 signatories, including Pussy Riot’s Nadya Tolokonnikova and other international cultural figures. (hyperallergic.com) (hyperallergic.com) Ukraine’s foreign minister Andrii Sybiha and Acting Culture Minister Tetiana Berezhna issued a joint statement on March 8 calling Russia’s participation “inadmissible” while Moscow continues its full‑scale war and citing the destruction of Ukrainian cultural heritage and casualties among artists. (mincult.gov.ua) (mincult.gov.ua) Italy’s culture minister Alessandro Giuli has publicly asked the ministry’s representative on the Biennale board, Tamara Gregoretti, to relinquish her mandate, arguing she did not alert the ministry to the sensitivity of Russia’s planned return. (artnews.com; ocula.com) (artnews.com)
