Venice Biennale’s Baltic Pavilions Stage a Solidarity Walk for Ukraine
A procession through the Venice Biennale on May 6, 2026, turned three neighboring pavilions into a single political gesture. The Lithuanian, Latvian, and Estonian pavilions organized a solidarity walk for Ukraine during the preview days, tracing a route of about a mile and a half from the Lithuanian Pavilion to the Latvian Pavilion and then to the Estonian pavilion.
The Lithuanian Pavilion said the walk was dedicated to Ukrainian cultural workers and to those who have died amid the ongoing violence. The action also underscored Ukraine’s presence at the Biennale itself: the country has its own pavilion, where Zhanna Kadyrova is featured in the exhibition “Security Guarantees.”
The walk was not an isolated intervention. This year’s Biennale has already been marked by a series of political actions and disputes, including protests by Pussy Riot, FEMEN, and the Art Not Genocide Alliance. The entire jury resigned before preview week, reportedly connected to a decision about excluding countries charged with crimes against humanity by the International Criminal Court.
Taken together, the events point to a Biennale in which the exhibition grounds have become inseparable from the geopolitical arguments surrounding them. For the Baltic pavilions, the walk offered a measured but visible form of alignment with Ukraine, using proximity, movement, and public space to make that position unmistakable.
