The feminist groups Pussy Riot and Femen broke into the Venice Biennale this morning in front of the Russian pavilion, in protest at the readmission of this country in this edition after its exclusion in 2022 due to the invasion of Ukraine. The protesters, hooded in pink, threw smoke bombs with the colors of the Ukrainian flag and also pink at the pavilion. During the protest, which was broken up by the police after half an hour of clashes, the Russian ambassador remained barricaded inside the premises, according to the Italian press.
The reincorporation of Russia into the 61st Venice Biennale (2026), inaugurated yesterday Tuesday, has caused an institutional crisis in the major contemporary art event, including the resignation of the international jury and the threat of the European Union to withdraw its two million euros of funding, in addition to criticism from a large part of the cultural sector and even from the Italian Prime Minister herself, Giorgia Meloni, opposed to its participation. To this we must add the participation of Israel, which has also been questioned for its war intervention in Gaza. Furthermore, the withdrawal in the extremes of Iran, announced on Monday a few hours before the start.
Despite criticism and tensions, Russia and Israel opened their pavilions to an audience of professionals, before the official opening on Saturday. In the absence of a jury, it will be the public who will decide in November, at the close of the edition, the awards for the best artist and the best pavilion, an unprecedented situation in the history of the Biennial.
Russia’s proposal, titled The Tree Is Rooted in the Sky (The tree has roots in the sky), is a set of floral compositions and texts about memory and landscape, accompanied by loud music. That of Israel, titled Rose of Nothingnessthe work of artist Belu-Simion Fainaru, is an installation in a room flooded by drops of water that fall on a black surface from a network of suspended pipes, next to a rose locked in a white freezer.