Israel’s Venice Biennale artist defends dialogue as boycott calls intensify
Belu-Simion Fainaru, the artist chosen to represent Israel at the forthcoming Venice Biennale, has responded to mounting pressure over his country’s participation with a statement that rejects cultural boycotts and frames the pavilion as a site for exchange rather than exclusion.
“I do not support cultural boycotts,” Fainaru wrote in a lengthy message sent to and submitted to Biennale president Pietrangelo Buttafuoco. “I believe in dialogue and exchange, especially in challenging times.” He added that art “thrives on openness” and that narrowing that space diminishes it.
His remarks arrive amid sustained protest from the Art Not Genocide Alliance, which organized an open letter calling Israel a “genocidal state” and demanding that it be removed from the Biennale. The letter, signed by dozens of artists in the main exhibition curated by Koyo Kouoh, also drew signatures from two curatorial advisers appointed by Kouoh before her death last year, along with national representatives from countries including Belgium and the United Arab Emirates.
The controversy has widened beyond Israel. A second letter has targeted Israel, the United States, and Russia, with Russia’s participation drawing especially sharp criticism in the wake of multiple open letters and a threat by the European Union to withdraw funding from the Biennale. The institution has said it cannot ask any nation recognized in Italy to leave the exhibition, arguing that it “rejects any form of exclusion or censorship of culture and art” and describing itself as “a place of dialogue, openness, and artistic freedom.”
Fainaru’s own statement closely echoes that language. He described art as “a universal language” and said its value lies in openness, transcending backgrounds, beliefs, and borders. He also said he welcomes “a plurality of voices and perspectives” and hopes visitors will bring their own experiences to the pavilion.
The artist’s installation, Rose of Nothingness, will include a reflective pool filled with darkened liquid. Fainaru said the work is meant to suggest that life and art are shaped not by accumulation, but by attention to what is absent and still forming.
The last artist to represent Israel at the Venice Biennale was Ruth Patir, who closed her 2024 pavilion on opening day and said it would reopen only if a ceasefire in Gaza were reached and hostages taken by Hamas were freed. Neither condition was met during the run of the exhibition.
