Russia closes Venice pavilion to public

Russia’s pavilion at the 2026 Venice Biennale will open during the May 5–8 preview and then close to the public for the rest of the show. (artnews.com) (euronews.com) ARTnews, citing Italian reports, said the pavilion will host live performances tied to “The Tree Is Rooted in the Sky” during the vernissage from May 5 to May 8. From May 9 through November 22, digital documentation of those performances will play on screens in the pavilion’s windows. (artnews.com) The project lists commissioner Anastasiia Karneeva and curator Petr Musoev, and Russia’s organizers previously said it would involve more than 50 young musicians, poets, and philosophers from Russia and other countries. (myartguides.com) (artnews.com) The pavilion’s restricted opening follows weeks of pressure from European politicians and cultural officials over Russia’s participation while the war in Ukraine continues. Euronews reported on April 13 that the European Commission threatened to freeze or revoke a €2 million grant allocated to the Biennale through 2028. (euronews.com) Italy’s culture minister, Alessandro Giuli, said he would skip the Biennale’s pre-opening days and the May 9 opening ceremony because of the Russian pavilion. Euronews said 22 European Union countries and Ukraine had already protested the reopening. (euronews.com 1) (euronews.com 2) Leaked emails published by Open and La Repubblica, and described by Artnet and ARTnews, show Biennale officials and Karneeva discussing Russia’s participation from June 2025 onward. Those emails included visa help for Musoev and a plan to keep the project within European Union sanctions rules. (news.artnet.com) (artnews.com) The Biennale Foundation told Il Giornale, as quoted by ARTnews, that it acted with “absolute respect for the rules” and that “no European sanctions were circumvented.” The foundation said the Russian project’s feasibility and compliance were evaluated under the same protocols used for all Giardini pavilions. (artnews.com) Russia had not mounted its own pavilion in 2022 after artists and curator withdrew over the invasion of Ukraine, and in 2024 it let Bolivia use the building instead. In March 2026, Mikhail Shvydkoy said Russia was not “returning” because its pavilion had never truly left Venice’s cultural space. (artnews.com) The result is a pavilion that will exist physically in Venice but, after four preview days, not for ordinary Biennale visitors. That leaves Russia on the Giardini map while keeping its doors shut from the public opening on May 9 to the close on November 22. (artnews.com) (euronews.com)