Twenty-two European countries have urged the leadership of the Venice Biennale to reconsider Russia’s participation in the next International Art Exhibition.
In a letter signed by the ministers of culture and foreign affairs from several countries - including Belgium, Sweden, France, Spain, Germany and Ukraine - the signatories said that, under the current circumstances, the presence of the Russian Federation at the Biennale would be “unacceptable.”
The issue has also sparked debate in Italy between Culture Minister Alessandro Giuli and Pietrangelo Buttafuoco, president of the Fondazione La Biennale di Venezia, ahead of the 61st International Art Exhibition, which is scheduled to open on May 9.
European institutions have also weighed in. Brussels has “strongly condemned” Russia’s participation and said it is ready to consider further measures, including suspending or ending an EU grant to the Biennale Foundation.
Although Italy did not sign the letter from the 22 ministers, Giuli reiterated the government’s opposition to Russia’s presence. In a video message released during the presentation of the Italian Pavilion, he argued that art produced within an autocratic system can only truly be free when it adopts a dissident stance toward political power.
According to Giuli, when artistic expression is selected by the leadership of an authoritarian state, it risks losing its independence - particularly in the context of the ongoing war in Ukraine.
Buttafuoco, however, defended the Biennale’s autonomy. At the end of the meeting, he thanked the minister for the discussion but emphasized that the Venice institution, active for more than 130 years, has always upheld an open model in which closure and censorship remain outside its doors.
The concerns raised by European Ministers center on the risk that Russia could use the Biennale as a form of cultural soft power to project an image of international legitimacy and normality despite the ongoing war and European sanctions.
The Russian feminist collective Pussy Riot has also entered the debate, announcing possible protests during the exhibition.
Meanwhile, the Italian Pavilion - titled “With You With Everything” and curated by Cecilia Canziani - will explore themes of materiality, listening and collaboration. Buttafuoco also rejected criticism about the alleged absence of Italian artists in the main exhibition, explaining that a planned presentation tour in three Italian theaters was canceled following the death of the exhibition’s curator, Koyo Kouoh.
Despite the controversy, he reaffirmed the quality of the Italian Pavilion, entrusted to artist Chiara Camoni and curator Canziani, calling it a choice of “absolute excellence.”