Entire Venice Biennale jury resigns amid controversy over Russian and Israeli participation
All five members of the Venice Biennale’s international jury resigned on Thursday, less than two weeks before the exhibition’s opening, in the latest escalation of a months-long dispute surrounding the participation of Russia and Israel in the festival.
Jury members said they were resigning “in acknowledgement” of a statement of intention issued shortly after they were selected on 22 April, in which they announced they would “refrain from considering those countries whose leaders are currently charged with crimes against humanity”. The decision would have prevented the Russian and Israeli delegations from receiving awards, but not from participating in the exhibition itself.
In response to the mass resignation, the Biennale’s organisers said that prizes would be awarded on the final day of the exhibition in November, rather than at its opening on 9 May. Visitors, rather than the jury, will be invited to vote for artists from all participating countries, including Russia and Israel.
The announcement in March that the Russian pavilion would be allowed to open at the 2026 edition of the Biennale, having been absent from the event since the invasion of Ukraine in 2022, drew immediate backlash from the governments of Ukraine and over 20 other European countries.
In a joint letter to Fondazione Biennale president and former right-wing journalist Pietrangelo Buttafuoco, European culture ministers argued in March that “granting Russia a prestigious international cultural platform sends a deeply troubling signal”, and called for the organisers to reconsider their decision.
Earlier this month, the EU confirmed it would withdraw a €2 million funding package for film producers at the Biennale over Russia’s participation, following through on an earlier threat. European Commission spokesperson Thomas Regnier said that the EU was “strongly condemning the fact that the Fondazione Biennale has allowed for the Russian pavilion to open again”.
Russia has never been formally barred from the Venice Biennale, but chose not to open its pavilion at the last iteration of the festival in 2024. In 2022, it was unable to participate after the artists contracted for its pavilion withdrew at the last minute over their opposition to the war in Ukraine.
The Fondazione Biennale has stressed that it does not decide which countries are able to participate in the exhibition, as the nations themselves own the pavilions at the event.
