The 61st edition of the Venice Biennale, the world’s longest-running major contemporary art exhibition, opened its previews to the public on Tuesday amid unprecedented turmoil that has thrown the event’s core structure into question. The chaos erupted just days earlier, when the entire jury stepped down in protest over the event’s decision to allow pavilions for Israel and Russia, a move that has split participating artists, curators and organizers along geopolitical lines.
Walking through the Biennale’s iconic Giardini gardens, the geographic and political divides are impossible to miss. Only a short distance from the Russian Pavilion, where a small group of attendees danced to house music spun by an Argentine DJ during opening events, Ukrainian artists gathered beside a large origami deer sculpture evacuated from the war-torn eastern Ukrainian city of Pokrovsk, just 5 kilometers from the active front line with Russia. Meanwhile, a group of Palestinian activists marched through the gardens, their shirts emblazoned with the names of fellow artists killed in the ongoing conflict in Gaza. Event organizers have braced for more protests throughout preview week.
The unprecedented upheaval has reignited long-simmering debates about the core structure of the 129-year-old exhibition, which centers on 100 independent national pavilions operating alongside a centrally curated main exhibition featuring 110 independent artists and collectives. Critics argue that the nation-based pavilion model has grown outdated in a globalized art world, where most creators work across international borders, and that the structure gives nation states an unmerited platform to push political propaganda.
Marie Helene Pereira, one of five curators stepping in to lead the main exhibition *In Minor Keys* after original curator Koyo Kouoh passed away last year while preparing the show, said the current unrest makes clear that the concept of centering nation states within the exhibition space is now openly contested.
“We can see how much that can bring tension, especially in the midst of the political chaos we find ourselves in,” Pereira told reporters. She added that the moment calls for a full rethinking of institutional structures to better center artists and the creative process, while noting that this does not mean art should be divorced from political context.
Prior to the full jury’s resignation, panel members had publicly stated they would refuse to award prizes to any country whose leaders are facing investigation by the International Court of Justice, a designation that explicitly includes both Russia and Israel. Some participating artists have welcomed the jury’s departure. Israeli artist Belu-Simion Fainaru, whose Kabbalah-inspired installation is on display, called the resignation a fair outcome.
“I should be treated as an equal artist, and I should not be discriminated against because of my race, that I am a Jew, and not because of my nationality or passport,” Fainaru said. “I have to be seen as I am: I am an artist that wants to show my art, and I have the right to be evaluated. The Biennale should be a place where you can feel safe to create and do whatever you believe in.”
For Ukrainian participants, who have seen their country grapple with a full-scale Russian invasion for more than two years, the decision to allow Russia to participate is unacceptable. Ukrainian co-curator Ksenia Malykh, whose team evacuated the *Origami Deer* sculpture from a Pokrovsk park to serve as the centerpiece of the 2024 Ukrainian Pavilion, condemned the Biennale’s claim of neutrality as a hollow falsehood.
“You can’t stay neutral in these times. You can’t be neutral when people are dying every day because of Russians,” Malykh said. “Nobody is talking about their art. They are only talking about the statement that they are here, and I am absolutely sure this was their goal.”
Organizers have placed unprecedented restrictions on the Russian Pavilion: it will only operate to invited guests during the preview week that ends Friday, and will remain closed to the general public for the entire 6.5-month public run that begins Saturday. Russian curators declined to comment for this report. The decision to allow Russian participation has already carried major financial consequences: the EU has cut 2 million euros ($2.3 million) in three-year funding for the Biennale over the move, and Biennale leadership’s position has also put it at odds with the Italian national government. Even the official event catalog acknowledges the uncertainty, leaving a placeholder entry where the Russian pavilion’s statement would normally appear and noting that participation was “under review” when the catalog went to press.
The jury’s resignation has also upended one of the Biennale’s most iconic traditions: the awarding of Golden Lion prizes, the event’s highest honor that has drawn comparisons to Olympic medals for the art world. With no professional jury in place, no jury-awarded Golden Lions will be handed out this year for best national pavilion and best main exhibition participant. Instead, visitors will vote for two winners, which will be announced on November 22, the final day of the exhibition. Malykh argues that the shift undermines the Biennale’s institutional credibility.
“It’s an important moment. If the prize is given by the public… It’s not a professional institution after that,” Malykh said.