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TRANSCRIPT
Venice is abuzz with crowds, as the 61st edition of the Vencie Biennale gets underway.
But the contemporary art show begins under a cloud, with the resignation of the international jury around a week ago.
Before resigning, the five-person jury had decided countries whose leaders are currently charged with crimes against humanity by the International Criminal Court would not be considered for the prestigious Golden Lion - which would bar them from including Russia and Israel.
Ukrainian artist Zhanna Kadryova's work “The Origami Deer” is part of her country's exhibition, a piece created to fill an empty plith in a park in Pokrovsk, in the Donbas region of Ukraine.
The plith once held a decommissioned Su-7 fighter-bomber - a nuclear-capable Soviet fighter jet and as the front line of the war approached in 2024, the statue was carefully evacuated from the park.
Ms Kadryova welcomed the jury's decision on Russia.
“I thank the jury that they had the position. It's a big support for us. Of course I think, for Biennale, it's an important moment because a Biennale without a jury it’s the first time in the whole history of Biennale.”
The rescued statue stands just metres from where Russian participants danced to house music.
Russia's exhibit won't be open to the public once the Biennale opens for its six-and-a-half month run on Saturday but is open now during the preview period.
But it's been reported the exhibition will still be visible through the windows.
One of the curators of the Ukrainian pavilion, Ksenia Malykh, says Russia should not have been able to participate.
“It is a super hypocrisy that they are participating. I mean, they tell that art is beyond the politics, but they are using art as a weapon in a hybrid war in Europe. So this is absolutely insane that they are here and I think no one progressive could accept that.”
The European Commission has also condemned Russia’s inclusion and threatened to pull 2 million euros in funding.
Russia last exhibited at the Biennale in 2020.
In the wake of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, the curator and artists chosen to represent Russia pulled out in protest against their government’s actions.
And in 2024 the Russian pavilion was loaned to Bolivia.
The Israeli pavilion includes a water installation.
Israeli artist Belu-Simion Fainaru has welcomed the resignation of the jury.
“I think it's no place to be discriminated in the art world, and not in life, especially not in art Biennale, that the basis of it is inclusion and dialogue, and free expression, and a place where you can feel safe, to create and do whatever you believe in it.”
The decisions of the jury are raising questions about the relevance of national representation in an art world that's increasingly globalised, with artists operating internationally.
Marie Helene Pereira is one of the curators of the main pavilion.
“I think that what has been very much contested is the existence of nation state in within the space of the exhibition, and this is a structure that has been established since the 1930s at the Biennale, and we see how much that can bring tension, especially in the midst of the political chaos we find ourselves. So I think that it's important to be able to rethinks structures, rethink institutions, in a way that allows for them to cater more, to artists and art making.”
The Biennale is made up of around 100 national pavilions, which are showing alongside a curated exhibition featuring 110 artists and artist groups.
As for the prestigious prizes on offer - the jury normally decides the winner of the Golden Lion for best national pavilion or best participant in the main curated exhibition.
Instead, visitors will choose two winners this year, for best national participant and best main show participant.
The prizes will be awarded on the closing day of the Biennale in November.
The Biennale will run until November 22, 2026.
