Venice Biennale jury named

La Biennale di Venezia has named the five-member jury for its 61st International Art Exhibition, with Brazilian curator Solange Oliveira Farkas serving as president. (labiennale.org) The other jurors are curator and writer Zoe Butt, curator Elvira Dyangani Ose, art historian and Yale School of Art professor Marta Kuzma, and University of Geneva professor and critic Giovanna Zapperi, La Biennale said on April 22. The awards ceremony is scheduled for Saturday, May 9, 2026, in Venice. (labiennale.org) The jury will decide the exhibition’s official prizes as the 2026 edition opens to the public from May 9 through November 22 at the Giardini, the Arsenale and other sites across Venice. La Biennale has also set pre-opening days for May 6, 7 and 8. (labiennale.org) This year’s exhibition is titled *In Minor Keys* and was conceived by curator Koyo Kouoh. La Biennale says the show will include 110 invited participants drawn from artists, duos, collectives and artist-led organizations. (labiennale.org; labiennale.org) The jury announcement lands as the Biennale faces pressure over Russia’s return to the 2026 exhibition after its pavilion was closed in 2022 following the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said on April 21 that the bloc intends to cut funding because Russia “should not be allowed to exhibit its own” culture while the war continues. (politico.eu; euronews.com) The funding at issue is €2 million, according to reporting by Euronews and other outlets. The dispute centers on the reopening of the Russian pavilion, a national pavilion separate from the Biennale’s main international exhibition. (euronews.com; artnews.com) La Biennale has said the international exhibition and the national pavilions operate under different rules. In a statement reported by Politico, the institution said it could not bar a country from its national pavilion because those pavilions are “autonomous entities” responsible for their own programs. (politico.eu) So the immediate story is administrative but the stakes are larger: the people judging the prizes have now been named, while the institution that hosts them heads into its May opening under financial and political scrutiny. The next fixed date is May 9, when the awards are handed out and the exhibition formally opens. (labiennale.org; labiennale.org)