Venice Biennale President Defends Russia and Israel Participation as Protests Mount
The Venice Biennale has entered its public opening week with a familiar art-world tension sharpened into something more combustible: who gets to participate, and who gets excluded. On Wednesday, May 6, president Pietrangelo Buttafuoco used a conference at Teatro Piccolo dell’Arsenale to mount a forceful defense of the exhibition’s openness, rejecting criticism over Russia and Israel’s presence and casting the Biennale as a forum that should not be policed by nationality.
“If the Biennale started selecting works [on the basis of] passports, it would cease to be what it has always been: the place where the world comes together,” Buttafuoco said, quoting Italian president Sergio Mattarella. He also accused his critics of “narcissism” and “censorship,” and said the event should resist what he described as efforts to undermine cultural institutions.
The remarks came as Russia returns to the 2026 Venice Biennale for the first time since its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. That decision has drawn scrutiny from Italy’s government. Last week, the culture minister sent inspectors to examine the Biennale’s management and determine whether sanctions had been breached. The resulting report was submitted this week to Palazzo Chigi, the office of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, and has since been published in full by media outlets.
Israel’s participation has also become a flashpoint. In March, Art Not Genocide Alliance, a coalition of artists, curators, and art workers, delivered a letter signed by Biennale workers calling for Israel’s exclusion. As of May 4, the letter had gathered 232 signatures. Israel’s return this year is itself notable: in 2024, the artist and curators representing the country announced that the pavilion would remain closed until a ceasefire and hostage release agreement was reached.
The pressure has spilled into the opening days of the event. A demonstration organized by ANGA drew about 200 people, while Pussy Riot joined FEMEN in surrounding the Russia pavilion on Wednesday. Cultural workers and participants are planning to strike on May 8. The Russia pavilion is open during the four-day press preview, but will close for the six-month exhibition because of EU sanctions, with videos projected onto its exterior wall during the closure.
Buttafuoco also singled out Meloni for praise, saying that although she opposed Russia’s participation, she respected the Biennale’s autonomy. In his telling, that distinction mattered. For Venice, the question is no longer whether politics will enter the Biennale, but how much of the exhibition it will be allowed to shape.
