The Venice Art Biennale’s official awards ceremony, which normally opens the event and helps launch international careers with Golden and Silver Lion prizes, was canceled this year after the entire jury resigned days before the opening on May 9. The five-member jury had declared it would not consider any countries whose leaders are charged by the International Criminal Court (ICC) — a stance that directly affected Russia and Israel, both the subjects of recent ICC arrest warrants. It is unclear whether the jury resigned voluntarily or at the Biennale’s request. In place of juried prizes, visitors will be invited to vote during the run of the Biennale; so-called “Visitor Lions” will be awarded on the exhibition’s final day, November 22.
Koyo Kouoh’s posthumous main exhibition
The Biennale runs from May 9 to November 22 and lists 100 national participations, including seven first-time entrants: Guinea, Equatorial Guinea, Nauru, Qatar, Sierra Leone, Somalia and Vietnam. Iran withdrew on May 4 amid regional tensions.
The international exhibition, titled “In Minor Keys,” was curated by Cameroonian-born Koyo Kouoh, who died of cancer in May 2025 at 57. Kouoh — the first African woman to curate the main show — had largely developed the project before her death. The posthumous exhibition includes 111 invited participants and centers on marginal or overlooked voices. In her introductory text Kouoh described “minor keys” as a restorative resistance: quiet tones and consolations of poetry that persist despite global chaos.
Russia’s return and EU funding threat
Russia, whose artists voluntarily withdrew after the 2022 invasion of Ukraine, announced its return to the Biennale, sparking clashes between Italian institutions and the EU, and even within Italy’s right-wing government. The EU warned it might suspend a €2 million grant over three years after Russia was allowed to reopen its pavilion.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said the government opposed Moscow’s presence, while Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini called the EU’s funding threat “vulgar blackmail” against a major cultural body. Venice mayor Luigi Brugnaro said the pavilion would be shut if it engaged in propaganda but argued the Biennale should remain a forum for dialogue. Biennale Foundation president Pietrangelo Buttafuoco insisted the event be “open to everyone,” noting that Russia, Iran, Israel, Ukraine and Belarus would all be present.
Controversy intensified over the Russian pavilion’s commissioner, Anastasia Karneeva, daughter of a former FSB general and deputy chief executive of state-owned defense contractor Rostec. After negotiations, the pavilion remained closed to the public except during preview days (May 6–8); Russian artists will be filmed during performances and those recordings broadcast in the pavilion’s windows throughout the Biennale. Activists, including Pussy Riot and FEMEN, condemned the Russian show as image-polishing and staged a May 6 protest at the pavilion; Pussy Riot’s Nadezhda Tolokonnikova urged that the Italian government remove Putin-era representatives and instead show works by imprisoned Russian political dissidents.
South Africa’s empty pavilion
South African artist Gabrielle Goliath was selected to represent her country with a performance piece including a tribute to Palestinian poet Hiba Abu Nada, killed in an Israeli airstrike in October 2023. South Africa’s culture minister, Gayton McKenzie, requested edits to what he called a “highly divisive” work; Goliath refused and was blocked from the pavilion. The South African pavilion will remain empty, as no replacement was nominated after the cancellation in January. A video-installation version of Goliath’s project will be shown at another Venice venue outside the Biennale, and Goliath is suing the culture minister.
Australia revokes then reinstates artist
Australia briefly dropped its commissioned artist Khaled Sabsabi and curator Michael Dagostino amid accusations from right-wing politicians that Sabsabi — Lebanon-born and relocated to Australia at 12 — was antisemitic. Sabsabi’s work often grapples with civil war trauma, Arab immigrant identity and Islamophobia. After calls for boycotts, resignations and an independent review, the decision to drop the duo was reversed and they were reinstated.
Calls to exclude Israel (and other regimes)
Nearly 200 artists, curators and Biennale workers signed a letter organized by the Art Not Genocide Alliance (ANGA) calling for Israel to be banned from the 2026 Biennale. A separate letter, signed by more than 70 artists and curators in the main exhibition, urged exclusion of Israel and expanded the call to all “current regimes committing war crimes,” naming Russia and the US among them. Critics also highlighted that Israel is being given space in the Arsenale while its Giardini pavilion is closed for renovation.
Some artists push back against boycotts: Haifa-based sculptor Belu-Simion Fainaru said he does not support cultural boycotts and believes in dialogue. At the 2024 Biennale, Israeli artist Ruth Patir kept the national pavilion closed until a ceasefire in Gaza and the release of hostages. There is no Palestinian national pavilion because only countries officially recognized by Italy can participate; a side exhibition titled “Gaza — No Words” will run in the city during the Biennale.
Other national shows
Germany’s pavilion, titled “Ruin,” draws on research about the GDR and post-reunification transformation. German installation artist Henrike Naumann, who died in February at 41, completed her contribution before her death; Vietnamese-born Berlin artist Sung Tieu also appears in the show.
The Vatican’s exhibition, “The Ear is the Eye of the Soul,” commissions sonic compositions inspired by 12th-century mystic Hildegard von Bingen. The program features 24 artists, including Brian Eno, Patti Smith and FKA Twigs.
Notes
The Biennale has adjusted plans repeatedly amid these controversies. The posthumous staging of Koyo Kouoh’s “In Minor Keys” and other contributions by late artists mark an event shaped as much by political conflict as by artistic programming. This article has been updated to reflect ongoing developments affecting the Biennale. Edited by Sarah Hucal.