The 2025 Venice Biennale opened under unusual strain as a series of political and institutional disputes reshaped the exhibition. Longstanding rituals were disrupted, national pavilions became flashpoints, and the main international show proceeded as a posthumous tribute to its curator.
Prizes canceled after jury exits
Days before the opening on May 9, the five-member international jury that normally awards the Golden and Silver Lions announced it would not consider countries whose leaders are charged by the International Criminal Court (ICC) — a position that directly affected Russia and Israel, both linked to recent ICC arrest warrants. The jurors then resigned, and it remains unclear whether they quit of their own accord or at the Biennale’s request. As a result, the traditional juried awards ceremony was canceled. Instead, visitors will be invited to cast ballots during the run of the Biennale; so-called “Visitor Lions” will be tallied and awarded on the exhibition’s final day, November 22.
Koyo Kouoh’s posthumous international exhibition
The international exhibition, “In Minor Keys,” was curated by Cameroonian-born Koyo Kouoh, who died of cancer in May 2025 at age 57. Kouoh, the first African woman to curate the main show, had largely developed the project before her death. The posthumous presentation includes 111 invited participants and focuses on marginal, overlooked and consolatory forms of expression — what Kouoh characterized as “minor keys,” quiet tonalities and poetic responses that persist amid global turmoil.
Scale and some withdrawals
The Biennale runs from May 9 to November 22 and lists 100 national participations. Seven countries are making their first appearances: Guinea, Equatorial Guinea, Nauru, Qatar, Sierra Leone, Somalia and Vietnam. Iran withdrew on May 4, citing regional tensions.
Russia’s return and an EU funding standoff
Russia’s return to the Biennale after a self-imposed absence following the 2022 invasion of Ukraine reignited disputes between Italian cultural bodies and the European Union, and spilled into domestic politics. The EU warned it might suspend a €2 million grant paid over three years after Russia was permitted to reopen its pavilion. Italian leaders debated the matter publicly: Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said the government opposed Moscow’s presence, while Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini denounced the EU’s funding warning as “vulgar blackmail.” Venice mayor Luigi Brugnaro warned the pavilion would be shut if it became a vehicle for propaganda but argued the Biennale should remain a place for dialogue. Biennale Foundation president Pietrangelo Buttafuoco defended an open-door stance, noting that Russia, Iran, Israel, Ukraine and Belarus were all represented at the event.
Questions about the Russian pavilion’s leadership and format
Controversy deepened over the pavilion’s commissioner, Anastasia Karneeva, identified in reporting as the daughter of a former FSB general and as a deputy chief executive of state-owned Rostec. Following negotiations, the Russian pavilion did not operate as a conventional public exhibition: it was open only during preview days (May 6–8), and live performances by Russian artists were filmed and projected in the pavilion’s windows for the duration of the Biennale rather than shown inside the building. Activists, including members of Pussy Riot and FEMEN, staged protests at the pavilion on May 6. Pussy Riot’s Nadezhda Tolokonnikova publicly urged Italian authorities to remove officials associated with the Putin era from the pavilion and to use the space to show works by imprisoned Russian dissenters instead.
South Africa’s empty pavilion and a blocked artist
South Africa’s pavilion became another center of dispute. Artist Gabrielle Goliath, whose selected performance work included a tribute to Palestinian poet Hiba Abu Nada (killed in an Israeli airstrike in October 2023), was asked by South Africa’s culture minister Gayton McKenzie to make edits he called necessary because the work was “highly divisive.” Goliath refused to alter the piece and was subsequently blocked from participating in the pavilion. No replacement was nominated after the project’s cancellation in January, leaving the South African pavilion empty. A video-installation version of Goliath’s project is being shown at a separate Venice venue outside the Biennale proper, and Goliath has brought legal action against the culture minister.
Australia briefly drops then reinstates its artist and curator
Australia initially removed its commissioned artist Khaled Sabsabi and curator Michael Dagostino after right-wing politicians accused Sabsabi, Lebanon-born and raised in Australia from age 12, of antisemitism. Sabsabi’s practice often addresses civil war trauma, Arab identity and Islamophobia. The decision prompted public outcry, calls for boycotts, resignations and an independent review; the government reversed its decision and reinstated Sabsabi and Dagostino.
Campaigns to exclude Israel and broader boycott appeals
Pressure to exclude Israel from future Biennales intensified. Nearly 200 artists, curators and Biennale staff signed a letter organized by the Art Not Genocide Alliance (ANGA) calling for Israel’s exclusion from the 2026 Biennale. Separately, more than 70 artists and curators participating in the main exhibition signed a letter urging the removal of Israel and expanding that call to “current regimes committing war crimes,” naming Russia and the United States among them. Critics noted the inconsistency of allowing Israel to present work in the Arsenale while its historic Giardini pavilion remains closed for renovation.
Pushback against cultural boycotts and a lack of Palestinian representation
Not all participants support boycotts. Haifa-based sculptor Belu-Simion Fainaru has publicly opposed cultural boycotts and argued for dialogue instead. At the previous Biennale, Israeli artist Ruth Patir kept her national pavilion closed until an agreed ceasefire in Gaza and the release of hostages. There is no Palestinian national pavilion at the Biennale because only sovereign states officially recognized by Italy can participate; instead, a city-hosted side exhibition titled “Gaza — No Words” runs in Venice during the Biennale.
Other national highlights
Germany’s pavilion, themed “Ruin,” examines legacies of the GDR and transformations since reunification. German installation artist Henrike Naumann, who died in February at 41, completed her contribution before her death; Vietnamese-born Berlin artist Sung Tieu is also included in the German presentation. The Vatican’s exhibition, “The Ear is the Eye of the Soul,” commissions sonic works inspired by 12th-century mystic Hildegard von Bingen and features a program including Brian Eno, Patti Smith and FKA Twigs among 24 artists.
An event reshaped by politics and loss
Organizers repeatedly adjusted plans as controversies unfolded. The posthumous staging of Koyo Kouoh’s “In Minor Keys” and contributions by artists who died before opening have given the 2025 Biennale a distinctive, somber tone. Political disputes over participation, pavilion leadership and censorship have run alongside artistic programming, making the Biennale this year as much a site of diplomatic and cultural contestation as a showcase of contemporary art.
This report reflects developments up to the Biennale’s opening and has been updated as the situation evolved. Edited by Sarah Hucal.