Venice Biennale Artists Stage Sound Protest for Palestine at Pre-Opening
The Venice Biennale’s professional pre-opening was interrupted Tuesday by a coordinated protest that used humming, procession, and printed imagery to challenge Israel’s participation and draw attention to Palestine. About 60 artists, joined by a few dozen other participants, gathered at noon for an action titled “Solidarity Drone Chorus.”
The group assembled at the entrance to the Giardini and hummed “Drone Song,” a viral composition by Gazan composer and music teacher Ahmed “Muin” Abu Amsha. From there, they walked in procession to the Central Pavilion. Carolina Caycedo, who is included in the main exhibition “In Minor Keys,” said the sound was intended to evoke the constant presence of drones in Gaza and to bring that reality into the Biennale’s public space.
The action was organized over several months by artists in the main exhibition, according to participants, and followed a March open letter from Art Not Genocide Alliance calling on the Biennale to prevent Israel from participating in this year’s edition. Nearly 200 artists, curators, and arts workers associated with the Biennale signed the letter.
Caycedo said the group was responding in part to the Biennale’s decision to relocate the Israeli Pavilion within the Arsenale, which she described as forcing participants into complicity. Rui Dias Monteiro, another participating artist, said the action was meant less to shift attention away from the Israeli Pavilion than to elevate Palestinian artists and place them at the center of the conversation.
To that end, many participants wore T-shirts printed with the names of Gazan and Palestinian artists, with artworks reproduced on the back. Caycedo and Dias Monteiro also distributed handouts introducing artists such as Farah Qarmout and Ola Al Shrif, both of whom have taken part in the Gaza Biennial and have since been displaced from Gaza to Cairo and Abu Dhabi. The list of artists featured on the shirts was described as a collective effort led by Palestinian artists in “In Minor Keys” and the Palestinian Museum in Ramallah.
One anonymous participant said he joined because he could no longer remain silent, arguing that the Biennale was normalizing the participation of countries involved in war crimes and genocide. The group plans to repeat the action at noon on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday at different sites around the Biennale, extending the protest beyond a single moment of opening-day visibility.
