Russia has been warned by Venice’s mayor, Luigi Brugnaro, that if its pavilion peddles propaganda at the upcoming biennial, it will be shutdown.
Brugnaro was addressing media at the opening of the Venice Biennale’s revamped Central Pavilion, which cost €31 million and took 16 months to complete. “If the Russian government were to carry out propaganda, we would be the first to close the pavilion,” Brugnaro told the Ansa press agency.
Russia’s decision to reopen its pavilion for the first time since invading Ukraine four years ago has polarized the art world. Biennale president Pietrangelo Buttafuoco—who has not opposed the move—and Italian culture minister Alessandro Giuli—who has—have exchanged barbs. Brugnaro said he and Giuli had “differing visions.”
“I am pro-Ukrainian, we have twinned Venice with Odessa, and Russia is the aggressor, but we are not at war with the Russian people, and art is open,” he added, while stressing that May’s biennale should remain a place for dialogue and cultural exchange.
The Russian Pavilion will feature a musical program of folklore and world music, involving more than 50 musicians, poets, and philosophers from Russia and other countries. It is curated by Anastasia Karneeva, President Vladimir Putin’s cultural envoy, Mikhail Shvydkoy, told ARTnews on March 3. He framed the effort not as a comeback but as a way to “explore new forms of creative activity under current circumstances.”
“I would like to note that Russia never left the Venice Biennale,” he wrote in an email. “The very presence of our pavilion—regardless of what takes place there, whether exhibitions by our Latin American friends or the hosting of an educational center for the entire Biennale—means the presence of our country in Venice’s cultural space. Therefore, since we have not gone anywhere, we are not ‘returning.’ We are simply seeking new forms of creative activity in the current circumstances.”
In a statement released earlier this month, the biennale’s organizers said they’ve fully complied with all sanctions imposed on Moscow after its invasion of Ukraine in 2022. “No regulations have been violated,” they said, adding that the Italian culture ministry has been provided with documentation to back up their stance. The biennale also said publicly that it rejects “any form of exclusion or censorship of culture and art.” The organization added that the exhibition should remain “a place of dialogue, openness, and artistic freedom,” even as geopolitical tensions persist.
Tensions have threatened to boil over since the European Union said it could withdraw funding if Russia participates in the biennale. Giuli called for the resignation of Tamara Gregoretti, the ministry of culture’s representative to the event, and demanded full documentation of the Russian pavilion and its compliance with sanctions.
