Commissioners of the National Pavilions, Curators and Artists at the 61st International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia express joint disagreement with the Russian Pavilion officially taking part in the Biennale.
The initiative, led by the Estonian Pavilion in close collaboration with the Latvian, Lithuanian and Finnish Pavilions was signed by The Estonian Pavilion (Estonian Centre for Contemporary Art), Merike Estna and Natalia Sielewicz (artist and curator representing Estonia at the Biennale Arte 2026), The Estonian Pavilion at the Biennale Architettura 2027, The Lithuanian Pavilion (Lithuanian National Museum of Art), Lolita Jablonskienė (commisioner of the Lithuanian Pavilion), Eglė Budvytytė and Louise O’Kelly (artist and curator representing Lithuania at the Biennale Arte 2026), The Lithuanian Pavilion at the Biennale Architettura 2027 (National Architecture Institute), The Latvian Pavilion (Latvian Center for Contemporary Art), Solvita Krese (commissioner of the Latvian Pavilion), Inga Lace, Adomas Narkevicius, Mārīte Mastiņa Pēterkopa, Rolands Pēterkops, Bruno Birmanis (curators and artists representing Latvia at the Biennale Arte 2026), The Pavilion of Finland (Frame Contemporary Art Finland, Commissioner), The Pavilion of Finland at the Biennale Architettura 2027 (Archinfo, Commissioner), The Croatian Pavilion (Ministry of Culture and Media, Commissioner), Agnieszka Pindera, Polish Pavilion Commissioner (Zachęta – National Gallery of Art), Bogna Burska, Ewa Chomicka, Daniel Kotowski, Jolanta Woszczenko (artists and curators representing Poland at the Biennale Arte 2026), Jakub Jansa, Selmeci Kocka Jusko, Peter Sit (artists and curator representing Czech and Slovak republic at the Biennale Arte 2026), The Pavilion of France (Institut français, Commissioner).
The joint letter has been addressed to Alessandro Giuli, Italy’s Minister of Culture, Pietrangelo Buttafuoco, President of La Biennale di Venezia, the Board of Directors, the Auditor’s Committee and the President in General of the Biennale.
We share the open letter in full length:
The undersigned Commissioners of National Pavilions, Curators and Artists at the 61st International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia express our joint disagreement with the Russian Pavilion officially taking part in the Biennale.
A statement regarding the Russian participation was already signed in 2022. Nothing has changed by 2026. Russia is still brutalizing millions of Ukraine’s innocent people, attacking Ukraine’s independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity within its internationally recognised borders. We cannot stand silently, facing the Russian invasion of the free and sovereign country of Ukraine.
The decision to let Russia participate in La Biennale Arte undermines international efforts to isolate Russia in response to Russia’s ongoing war of aggression against Ukraine. The European Union has agreed on isolating all official cultural, educational, and scientific cooperation with Russian state entities. La Biennale as an Italian state-sponsored institution carries the moral responsibility to embody these objectives.
We call la Biennale di Venezia to officially deny Russian national participation. The Pavilion of Russia is an official representative of the country, which still continues its full-scale war in Ukraine and is openly aggressive towards the neighbouring countries, denying and mocking democratic values. Unlike an embassy, the Pavilion of Russia does not possess diplomatic immunity. According to the Procedure for National Participations, La Biennale holds the final authority in case of disputes. Consequently, both the Biennale organizers and the Italian government hold the authority to deny participation, as the questions raised here are not only ethical, but also legal and inevitably political.
Art has always stood in opposition to darkness and the evil powers in this world and should remain a terrain in which difficult questions and issues are spoken about, where everyone is invited to share their opinions and worldviews in order to create a better, more inclusive present, and to pave a way to a brighter future. It would still be unimaginable and unacceptable at this dark hour for Russia to be officially represented at La Biennale di Venezia.
More information:
Kaarin Kivirähk, deputy commissioner of the Estonian Pavilion
kaarin@cca.ee
Press inquiries:
Lore Isabel Alender, Sutton PR
Lore@suttoncomms.com