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Artists Yto Barrada, Carolina Caycedo, Gala Porras-Kim, and Alfredo Jaar are among the nearly 200 signatories of a new missive.
A group of art workers, artists, and activists protested outside the Israeli and US pavilions at the 60th Venice Biennale on April 17, 2024. (photo Avedis Hadjian/Hyperallergic)
As the 61st edition of the Venice Biennale approaches, nearly 200 participating artists, curators, and staff have issued an open letter urging the exclusion of Israel from this year’s program.
The letter, released on March 17, states, “The Venice Biennale’s complicity with the attempted destruction of Palestinian life must end. No artist or cultural worker should be asked to share a platform with this genocidal state.”
Among the 178 signatories are pavilion artists Yto Barrada (France), Isabel Nolan (Ireland), and Asmaa Jama (Somalia), as well as central exhibition artists Carolina Caycedo, Gala Porras-Kim, and Alfredo Jaar.
Carolina Caycedo, a Colombian artist based in Los Angeles known for her environmentally engaged work, expressed her motivation for signing the letter in an email to Hyperallergic: “Signing this letter is the minimum I can do in the face of genocide and ecocide. Our voices, our demands, our non-hegemonic stories, though plural and diverse, become stronger when woven into collective gestures of care and resistance.”
The Art Not Genocide Alliance (ANGA) collective, which was formed in protest of Israel’s 2024 pavilion, organized the letter. In a recent Hyperallergic opinion piece, ANGA criticized the Biennale’s administration for “actively ensuring the presence and participation of a state that was founded on the ethnic cleansing and illegal occupation of Palestine.”
The 2024 petition by ANGA, which highlighted Israel’s designation as an apartheid state by several human rights organizations and the absence of a Palestinian national pavilion, garnered over 24,000 global signatures. Nearly 2,000 of those signatories had participated in previous Biennales.
In response to the 2024 petition, the Biennale Foundation stated to Hyperallergic that all nations recognized by the Italian Republic could request participation, and the exhibition would not consider petitions to exclude Israel.
Curators Mira Lapidot and Tamar Margalit, along with artist Ruth Patir, chose to close the Israeli pavilion publicly until “a ceasefire and hostage release agreement is reached.” This decision was viewed by some as inadequate amidst growing support for the Boycott, Divest, Sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel.
ANGA renewed calls to boycott the Biennale last October when it was confirmed that Israel would participate in a temporary pavilion while the Giardini pavilion underwent renovations. Israeli sculptor Belu-Simion Fainaru was chosen to represent Israel at the 61st Biennale.
Caycedo remarked to Hyperallergic that artists in the Biennale are being “dragged into a position of complicity.” She added, “For me, making art and showing it in art exhibitions is not a neutral process. Art is a form of re-existence and solidarity, and I sign this letter in response to the call from Palestinian civil society to denounce the normalization of Israel’s crimes against human rights and the rights of nature.”
Despite a declared ceasefire and the release of Israeli hostages by Hamas, Israel continues its operations in Gaza, exacerbating the humanitarian crisis. A recent Lancet Global Health medical journal report indicated that over 75,000 Palestinians were killed in the first 15 months of Israel’s actions in Gaza.
The letter signed by future Biennale participants references the exhibition’s historical political stances, such as dedicating the 1974 Biennale to Chile’s liberation and excluding apartheid South Africa from 1968 to 1993, arguing these precedents justify Israel’s removal this year.
It also mentions the Foundation’s decision to include Russia in the upcoming Biennale, sparking criticism and threatening EU financial support. Russia had been absent from the last two exhibitions, having loaned its pavilion to Bolivia in 2024 and withdrawn in 2022 following the invasion of Ukraine.
In a press statement, the collective asserted that the Biennale’s attempt to reintroduce Russia underscores its political nature and double standards.
The Biennale Foundation has not yet responded to Hyperallergic‘s request for comment.
When questioned about his support for the petition, Matteo Norzi, co-curator of Perú’s national pavilion, suggested the inquiry should be directed toward those who chose not to sign. Both Soi Biri and co-curator Issela Ccoyllo joined him in signing the letter.
Norzi stated, “In light of the horror that has happened, and continues to happen, it is difficult to understand how one could choose not to sign.”
