Artists Withdraw From Venice Biennale Awards as Protests Over Israel and Russia Intensify

A group of 52 artists participating in the 61st Venice Biennale’s main exhibition, In Minor Keys, have withdrawn from consideration for the event’s newly created ‘Visitor Lion’ awards in solidarity with the biennale jury that resigned last month following disputes over Israel and Russia’s participation.

The statement, published on 9 May through e-flux, was signed by artists including Alfredo Jaar, Otobong Nkanga, Walid Raad and Laurie Anderson. Artists and curators from at least 16 national pavilions, including representatives from France, the Netherlands, Poland, Iceland, Lithuania and Ireland, also joined the withdrawal.

The move follows the collapse of the biennale’s original prize jury. In April, the five-member panel announced that it would not consider artists representing countries whose leaders are subject to international arrest warrants for crimes against humanity, a position widely interpreted as applying to Israel and Russia. The jury subsequently resigned en masse without publicly providing detailed reasons.

Italian media outlets, including Adnkronos, later reported that Israel’s representatives had raised concerns with biennale organisers over alleged discrimination and antisemitism. Those claims have not been independently verified by the biennale, which has not publicly commented on the circumstances surrounding the resignations.

The withdrawal statement was released on the day the biennale would traditionally host its Golden Lion awards ceremony. Organisers have instead introduced a public voting system, known as the ‘Visitor Lions’, with prizes due to be awarded on the exhibition’s closing day in November.

The awards dispute unfolded alongside a series of coordinated protests and temporary pavilion closures organised by the activist group Art Not Genocide Alliance (ANGA), which opposes Israel’s participation in the exhibition because of the war in Gaza. The pavilion, representing Israeli artist Belu-Simion Fainaru, was temporarily closed during demonstrations earlier in the week.

On 8 May, more than a dozen national pavilions partially or fully closed during the biennale preview period. Participants included Austria, Belgium, Japan, the Netherlands, Slovenia and Egypt, while other pavilions reduced programming or suspended performances and sound installations.

ANGA said around 237 artists, curators and cultural workers participated in the action, which was supported by several Italian trade unions. Protest organisers said the strike also aimed to draw attention to precarious working conditions in the cultural sector during major international exhibitions.

Biennale president Pietrangelo Buttafuoco has defended the institution’s decision to include both countries, stating that the biennale is ‘not a court’ and that the organisation rejects ‘any form of exclusion or censorship’. Organisers have also said the exhibition operates in accordance with Italian law and remains committed to ‘freedom of expression and pluralism of opinion’.