Russia to sit out of Venice Biennale for second time
For the second time since its attack on Ukraine in 2022, Russia will not participate in the Venice Biennale as political tensions continually affect the cultural festival.
The 2024 Venice Biennale marks the 60th anniversary and will include 90 national pavilions. Following reports of eleventh-hour changes, likely fuelled by political issues, a video installation by Open Group, a Ukrainian art collective, will be presented by Poland.
Russia has previously been a regular participant in the event and has held a pavilion since 1914. However, days after Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, artists representing Russia announced their resignation on their social media channels.
“There is nothing left to say; there is no place for art when civilians are dying under the fire of missiles,” said artist Alexandra Savchenkov. “As a Russian-born, I won’t be presenting my work at Venice.”
The same year, La Biennale pledged to support Ukraine’s national pavilion, works on which were temporarily paused after Russia’s invasion.
The 60th edition of the oldest-running art biennial will take place from April 20th to November 24th, and is curated by Adriano Pedrosa. In a statement, she revealed feeling “honoured and humbled” by her appointment. Pedrosa is the first Latin American to curate the International Art Exhibition.
Roberto Cicutto, President of La Biennale di Venezia, said: “The dialogue with the Countries, which with equal dignity and the freedom to choose their own curators take on the challenge of our contemporary age, expressing themselves freely on both the artistic and social level, makes the different with respect to any other cultural institution in the world.”
Thus far, the Venice Biennale has not commented on Russia’s absence this year.
