Nearly 200 Biennale-Linked Artists and Curators Sign Letter Urging Venice to Block Israel’s 2026 Participation
A new open letter is intensifying pressure on the Venice Biennale ahead of its 2026 edition, with an activist coalition calling on the exhibition’s organizers to prevent Israel from taking part.
Released this week by the Art Not Genocide Alliance, the letter has been signed by nearly 200 artists, curators, and arts workers connected to the upcoming Biennale. Among them are curators Gabe Beckhurst Feijoo and Rasha Salti, both members of the team tasked with realizing the vision of the late curator Koyo Kouoh, who died last May, only months after being announced as curator of the 2026 Venice Biennale.
The signatories also include dozens of artists slated to appear in the Biennale’s main exhibition, titled “In Minor Keys,” as well as artists and curators associated with a wide range of national presentations. The letter lists participants connected to the pavilions of Belgium, Brazil, Bulgaria, France, Peru, Poland, Spain, Switzerland, and other countries.
In a notable detail, 12 artists and curators affiliated with other pavilions signed anonymously. The letter says they withheld their names out of concern for “possible physical, political, or legal harms from signing publicly.”
The letter’s language is direct, framing the request as a refusal to allow the Biennale to “platform the Israeli state,” and positioning the appeal as an act of solidarity with Palestinian artists and cultural workers.
The campaign echoes a similar effort during the 2024 Venice Biennale, when Art Not Genocide Alliance circulated a letter that ultimately drew more than 20,000 signatories. That year, Israel’s pavilion became a flashpoint. Artist Ruth Patir, selected to represent Israel, announced in April 2024 that she would not open her exhibition until “a cease-fire and hostage release agreement” was reached between Israel and Hamas. The pavilion never opened before the Biennale closed in November, though protests still took place outside the pavilion during the professional preview days and public opening in April.
Israel’s participation in 2026 is expected to take place outside its usual pavilion in the Giardini, which Israel has said is under renovation. Instead, the presentation is slated for the Arsenale, the Biennale’s other main venue. Haifa-based artist Belu-Simion Fainaru, who is set to represent Israel, told ARTnews by phone that he views the shift as a positive change, adding that he is glad to be showing alongside countries including the United Arab Emirates, Turkey, and Saudi Arabia, which have their pavilions in the Arsenale.
The Israel letter arrives amid broader debate over the Biennale’s stance on national participation during geopolitical conflict. Earlier this month, Russia announced plans to reopen the Russia Pavilion for the first time since the country’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, prompting widespread backlash. More than 8,500 people have signed a separate open letter urging the Biennale’s leadership to “address the implications” of Russia’s return.
So far, the Biennale has resisted calls to exclude either country. In public statements, the organization has said it rejects “any form of exclusion or censorship of culture and art,” and has argued that the exhibition should remain “a place of dialogue, openness, and artistic freedom,” even as tensions continue to shape the cultural sphere.
With the 2026 edition still in formation, the letters signal that the Biennale’s claims of neutrality will face sustained scrutiny, not only in the Giardini and Arsenale, but across the international networks of artists and institutions that give the exhibition its authority.
