Practically 200 artists, curators and artwork employees concerned on this yr’s Venice Biennale (9 Might–22 November) have signed a letter calling for Israel’s exclusion from the occasion. The Artwork Not Genocide Alliance (ANGA) group, which is main the marketing campaign, says the letter was delivered to the Biennale’s president and board in the present day.
The signatories write that “we, the undersigned, stand collectively as artists, curators and artwork employees in a collective refusal to help you platform the Israeli state because it commits genocide”. They add that they’re performing “in help of our fellow artists and cultural employees in Palestine, in solidarity with Palestine, and in profound hope of an finish to Zionist genocide and ongoing apartheid, and the rebirth of a free Palestine”.
The letter argues that Israeli actions have devastated Palestinian cultural life, writing that “Israeli violence additionally targets the artwork and tradition supposedly held sacrosanct by the Biennale”. The signatories add that “the Venice Biennale’s complicity with the tried destruction of Palestinian life should finish” and that “no artist or cultural employee must be requested to share a platform with this genocidal state”.
Among the many signatories are internationally recognised artists together with Alfredo Jaar, Yto Barrada, Rosana Paulino, Meriem Bennani and Cauleen Smith, together with curators reminiscent of Binna Choi and Carles Guerra.
Since Hamas’s assault on 7 October 2023, which killed greater than 1,200 Israelis and by which greater than 250 folks had been taken hostage, greater than 72,000 Palestinians are estimated to have been killed in Gaza in whole, based on the Palestinian Ministry of Well being. The Palestinian well being ministry experiences that greater than 550 of these folks have been killed for the reason that declaration of a ceasefire in October 2025.
The letter follows an earlier enchantment despatched by ANGA to the Biennale’s organisers on 2 October 2025 calling for Israel’s exclusion from the 2026 exhibition, which the group says went unanswered. The alliance describes itself as a global group of artists, curators, writers, and cultural employees who’ve come collectively to name for the exclusion of Israel on the Venice Biennale.
The group’s October letter to the Venice Biennale warned that failure to exclude Israel may result in a broader boycott of the exhibition by artists and cultural employees. “If the Biennale fails to fulfill this fundamental demand, ANGA will provoke a marketing campaign to convey a full artist and viewers boycott of the 61st Venice Biennale,” it says. The letter additionally says, “if the Israeli pavilion isn’t excluded, ANGA will leverage the motion to make sure most reputational and financial penalties for the Biennale”.
A supply near ANGA tells The Artwork Newspaper that, in collaboration with main commerce unions, industrial motion is also organised throughout Italy across the opening of the Biennale.
An identical name launched by ANGA in 2024 gathered tens of 1000’s of supporters. Though the Biennale didn’t exclude Israel from that version, the Israeli pavilion by no means opened after its artist, Ruth Patir, stated she would hold it closed till a ceasefire and hostage launch settlement had been reached.
This yr, the Israeli authorities has reportedly added a contractual clause requiring the artist to make sure the exhibition stays open no matter protests.
Israel might be represented this yr by the Romanian-born sculptor Belu-Simion Fainaru, who is predicated in Haifa. In an interview with ARTnews in January, he stated he disagreed with ANGA’s strategy and with boycotts generally. Fainaru was contacted for remark.
One other difficulty that has angered activists is the situation of the Israeli pavilion this yr. Slightly than occupying its everlasting web site within the Giardini—which stays closed for renovation—Israel will as an alternative exhibit within the Arsenale. “We additionally object to the truth that Biennale administration explicitly supplied ‘to host’ Israel this yr within the Arsenale,“ an ANGA spokesperson tells The Artwork Newspaper. ”These momentary areas within the Arsenale are managed straight by the Biennale and there’s no excuse for providing that association… they might have advised Israel to rent an area on the non-public market, which might have been a extra typical association.”
ANGA’s letter comes because the Venice Biennale is already going through strain over its resolution to permit Russia to reopen its pavilion for the primary time for the reason that nation’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022. The European Union has threatened to withdraw funding from the Biennale, whereas on 12 March Italy’s tradition minister, Alessandro Giuli, known as for the ministry’s consultant on the Biennale’s board, Tamara Gregoretti, to step down over the problem.
In 2024, the then tradition minister Gennaro Sangiuliano rejected ANGA’s calls to exclude Israel, calling the demand “unacceptable” and “shameful”. He added that the Biennale “will all the time be an area of freedom, of conferences and dialogue, and never an area of censorship and intolerance”.
An ANGA spokesperson says that if Russia is excluded whereas Israel stays on the Biennale, it might reveal a “clear double customary” strategy in the direction of Israel.
In a press release revealed on its web site, the Biennale says that “in response to the communications and requests for participation from Nations, La Biennale di Venezia rejects any type of exclusion or censorship of tradition and artwork”. The assertion continues: “La Biennale, like town of Venice, continues to be a spot of dialogue, openness, and creative freedom, encouraging connections between peoples and cultures, with enduring hope for the cessation of conflicts and struggling.” The Venice Biennale organisers had been contacted for additional remark.
South Africa’s pavilion has additionally been impacted by the problem of Palestine this yr. The nation cancelled its participation after the artist Gabrielle Goliath refused to change her deliberate undertaking that referenced violence towards girls in Gaza.
A complete of 99 nations are collaborating within the 2026 Venice Biennale. The organisers have beforehand stated they don’t have the authority to exclude any nation recognised by Italy. Palestine, which Italy doesn’t recognise as a state, has by no means had an official nationwide pavilion.
