Venice Biennale funding clash
Plans to reopen Russia’s pavilion at the 61st Venice Biennale have triggered a political row, with the EU warning it may cut funding in response and Italian government divisions reported. (euronews.com) Latvia has publicly condemned Russia’s planned return, even as early exhibition previews name artists expected to figure in the show — including Barry X Ball and Wallace Chan’s Vessels of Other Worlds (2026). ( )
The European Commission has warned the Venice Biennale it could lose €2 million in European Union funding if Russia reopens its national pavilion in May. (euronews.com) A letter sent through the European Education and Culture Executive Agency gave Biennale president Pietrangelo Buttafuoco 30 days to clarify the institution’s position, according to Euronews. The money at risk is a grant allocated through 2028. (euronews.com) The 61st International Art Exhibition opens on May 9, 2026, with previews on May 6, 7 and 8, and Russia is listed among the 99 national participations announced by La Biennale di Venezia on March 4. (labiennale.org, labiennale.org) Russia’s project is titled *The Tree is Rooted in the Sky*, and ARTnews reported on March 3 that Mikhail Shvydkoy, Russia’s envoy for international cultural exchanges, said the pavilion would reopen after sitting out the 2022 and 2024 editions. (artnews.com, myartguides.com) The dispute is tied directly to Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. That year, artists Kirill Savchenkov and Alexandra Sukhareva and curator Raimundas Malašauskas withdrew from the Russian pavilion, and the pavilion stayed closed. (artnews.com) In 2024, Russia did not mount its own national show and instead handed the Giardini pavilion to Bolivia for the 60th Biennale, according to ARTnews. Russia’s 2026 reopening is its first official pavilion presentation since the invasion. (artnews.com) Opposition has spread beyond Brussels. Latvian public media reported on March 11 that Latvia organized a joint appeal from the culture and foreign ministers of 22 European countries asking Biennale leaders to reverse the decision and calling Russia’s participation “unacceptable under the current circumstances.” (eng.lsm.lv) European Commission Executive Vice-President Henna Virkkunen and Culture Commissioner Glenn Micallef said on March 10 that culture “should never be used as a platform for propaganda,” The Art Newspaper reported. The Biennale responded that Venice should remain a “place of dialogue” and a platform for the “cessation of conflicts and suffering.” (theartnewspaper.com) The argument has also split Italian politics. Euronews reported that Culture Minister Alessandro Giuli signaled disapproval, while Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini denounced the European Union threat as “blackmail” and said Brussels was targeting a free cultural institution. (euronews.com) The Venice calendar around the Biennale is already filling with other shows. Wallace Chan’s *Vessels of Other Worlds*, a separate dual-site exhibition in Venice and Shanghai, is scheduled to open in Venice on May 8 and run through October 18 at the Chapel of Santa Maria della Pietà. (artomity.art, benchpeg.com) With less than a month until the preview days, the immediate question is whether the Biennale changes course or risks a funding fight with Brussels as Russia’s pavilion prepares to open alongside the wider 2026 exhibition. (euronews.com, labiennale.org)
