Artists urge Venice Biennale to drop Israeli Pavilion

VENICE

Hundreds of artists have signed an open letter that calls on the Venice Biennale, the world’s top art festival, to drop Israel’s national pavilion this year. In continuing to mount the Israeli Pavilion, the artists say, “the Biennale is platforming a genocidal apartheid state.”

Current biennale participants and past ones alike signed the letter, as did Turner Prize winners, widely acclaimed artists, and at least one curator of a major international biennial, Artnews has reported.

The open letter said that Israel’s military action in Gaza was tantamount to “genocide” and called for a ceasefire.

“As the art world readies itself to visit the Giardini’s nation-state diorama, we say platforming art representing a state engaged in ongoing atrocities against Palestinians in Gaza is unacceptable. No Genocide Pavilion at the Venice Biennale,” the letter said.

Moreover, the letter claimed that the biennale had created a “double standard” by speaking out in favor of Ukraine after it was invaded by Russia in 2022 while having not yet made a statement on Gaza.

Russia did not participate in the 2022 Biennale, and will once again not have a pavilion this year.

Israel, which has a permanent structure for its pavilions in the heavily trafficked Giardini venue, is this year set to be represented by Ruth Patir. In October, Patir and curators Mira Lapidot and Tamar Margalit said they were “stunned and terrified” by the Hamas attack and added, “Our immense sense of grief is compounded by profound worry about the escalating humanitarian crisis in Gaza, and extends to the tragic loss of lives there, and what’s still to come.”

Jesse Darling, the winner of last year’s Turner Prize, also signed the letter, as did artists such as Carolina Caycedo, Meriem Bennani, Naeem Mohaiemen, Frieda Toranzo Jaeger, Ahmed Morsi, and Katja Novitskova.