Pussy Riot storms Russian pavilion

Art-world protests are usually easy to ignore. This one wasn’t. On Wednesday, May 6, the first preview day of the 2026 Venice Biennale, Pussy Riot and FEMEN turned the Russian Pavilion into the flashpoint of a much bigger fight over who gets to show up at one of the art world’s most prestigious events. (hyperallergic.com) ### What actually happened outside the pavilion? Roughly 50 activists from Pussy Riot and the Ukrainian feminist group FEMEN gathered outside the Russian Pavilion in the Giardini. They set off pink smoke, raised blue-and-yellow flares echoing the Ukrainian flag, chanted anti-w(hyperallergic.com) including “Russia kills, Biennale exhibits.” Police and Biennale security then cordoned off the entrance, and some activists who got inside were tackled and removed. (hyperallergic.com) ### Why target Russia now? Because Russia is back. The country withdrew from the 2022 edition after the full-scale invasion of Ukraine and was absent again in 2024, but it returned for the 61st Biennale in 2026. That made its pavilion a symbol, not just an exhibition space. Fo(hyperallergic.com) the war is over. (deadline.com) ### Why is the pavilion only open for previews? This is one of the strangest details. Russia’s participation this year is restricted to the preview days — May 6, 7, and 8 — for artists, curators, and journalists. After that, the pavilion is set to remain closed to the public for the rest of the(deadline.com)ctions, and it turns the pavilion into something like a private diplomatic room inside a public art fair. (hyperallergic.com) ### Who was protesting? Pussy Riot is the Russian feminist protest-art collective that emerged in 2011 in opposition to Vladimir Putin and became globally known after members were jailed in 2012. FEMEN is the Ukrainian feminist movement known for topless direct-action protests(hyperallergic.com)r to dismiss as just another Biennale stunt. (hyperallergic.com) ### Was Russia the only target? No — and that’s the bigger story. The same day, hundreds of pro-Palestine activists led by the Art Not Genocide Alliance blocked access to Israel’s Biennale presentation for about half an hour, demanding its closure. More than 200 artists have s(hyperallergic.com)y became a referendum on whether national representation at Venice can be separated from war. (hyperallergic.com) ### Why was the Biennale already on edge? Because the awards system had already blown up. On April 30, La Biennale said it had received the resignations of the entire international jury — Solange Farkas, Zoe Butt, Elvira Dyangani Ose, Marta Kuzma, and Giovanna Zapperi. The institution also pushed (hyperallergic.com)tion. That meant the show opened under a cloud even before protesters hit the pavilions. (labiennale.org) ### Why does this matter beyond one morning in Venice? Because the Venice Biennale is built around national pavilions. That format assumes countries can appear as cultural actors even when politics are ugly. But wars in Ukraine and Gaza are testing that assumption in public. Once protesters (labiennale.org)n art and state power starts to look pretty fake. (hyperallergic.com) ### Bottom line? Pussy Riot and FEMEN didn’t just interrupt a pavilion opening. They exposed the central problem of this Biennale — an exhibition built on national prestige is struggling to explain why some states still get the stage. (hyperallergic.com)