Venice Biennale Roiled by Russia Row
The Spin
Narrative A
Allowing Russia back into the Venice Biennale was a diplomatic disaster, with 22 European governments protesting, the jury resigning and the European Commission firing off multiple letters condemning the decision. Their pavilion staying closed to the public while projecting videos on its facade is also a transparent workaround that fools nobody. Warmongering regimes, which also include the U.S. and Israel, shouldn't be rewarded for their behavior on the world stage.
Narrative B
The Venice Biennale's mission is to unite nations through art, and excluding Russia — or any country, for that matter — undermines that purpose entirely. The Russian pavilion belongs to the Russian Federation — the Biennale and the Italian state have no legal authority over it, making the EU's threat to pull a 2 million-euro grant pure political coercion. Art has always been a force for peace, and weaponizing funding to dictate who participates corrupts that ideal.
Cynical narrative
Geopolitics aside, the Venice Biennale — like the rest of the global art-exhibition circuit — has long since stopped being about art. It's now a gilded trade fair for the 0.1 percent — collectors, gallerists and auction houses who treat national pavilions as branded real-estate opportunities and turn the whole event into a week-long networking spree dressed up as cultural diplomacy. The work itself has grown relentlessly safe and market-tested, while younger artists without trust funds or dealer connections are priced out entirely.
Public Figures
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