The entire five-member jury of the Venice Biennale has resigned just nine days before the inauguration of the world's oldest and most prestigious contemporary art exhibition, plunging the 61st edition of the event into crisis. The resignations, announced late on Thursday, follow weeks of escalating controversy over the decision by Biennale organisers to allow Russia to participate for the first time since its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
The jury had previously declared it would not award prizes to artists from countries whose leaders face charges of crimes against humanity at the International Criminal Court — a position understood to refer to Russia and Israel. The ICC has issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin over alleged war crimes, while warrants were issued in 2024 for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and a former defence minister over the conflict in Gaza. Rather than elaborate further, the jury's resignation statement was brief, offering no detailed explanation for the unusual step. The Biennale's inauguration ceremony, scheduled for 9 May, has been cancelled as a result; instead, visitors will vote on their favourite pavilions, with prizes to be awarded on the event's closing day, 22 November.
Organisers have maintained throughout that the Biennale is an open institution that "rejects any form of exclusion or censorship," adding that Russia owns its pavilion outright and therefore cannot simply be barred. The exhibition's director, Pietrangelo Buttafuoco, had said in March that the Biennale "stands above geopolitical conflicts" and that art serves to open dialogue. Russia had been absent from both the 2022 and 2024 editions — in 2022, the Russian team's own curators and artists withdrew in protest against the invasion, leaving the pavilion empty, and in 2024 Russia ceded the space to Bolivia. This year, the Russian team is due to present a sound performance entitled The Tree is Rooted in the Sky.
The controversy has drawn sharp political reactions. The European Commission announced it plans to suspend a €2 million grant to the Biennale Foundation, describing Russia's participation as "morally wrong" at a time when Moscow "seeks to erase Ukrainian culture." The foundation has 30 days to respond. Italy's Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said Russia's inclusion "is a decision not shared by the government," though she acknowledged the Biennale's institutional autonomy. Culture Minister Alessandro Giuli said the decision was made "entirely independently" of the government and sent ministry inspectors to Venice to gather information, prompting speculation about whether Russia's return could violate EU sanctions. Italy's culture ministry is also reported to have expressed strong support for the Israeli pavilion.
Why this matters: The Venice Biennale, held in the city's historic Giardini and Arsenale venues, carries enormous symbolic weight in the global art world. Russia's return, even amid an ongoing war that has killed hundreds of artists and destroyed Ukrainian cultural heritage sites, would represent a step toward the international normalisation Moscow has actively sought. The jury's mass resignation — and the cancellation of the formal awards ceremony — signals that the tension between artistic universalism and political accountability has reached a breaking point that organisers can no longer contain.