Biennale Arte, EU vice president victim of a joke by Russian comedians: what happened

“And, of course, it was a rather shocking decision for us to allow the Russians to reopen their part of the exhibition in this pavilion,” the European Commission vice-president said. “We have condemned this decision together with our Commissioner for Culture, Glenn Micallef, and we are now evaluating further measures, which we obviously expect from the Venice Biennale, to overturn this decision, because we believe it is totally against our policy.”

According to Henna Virkkunen, the European Commission must do everything possible to “prevent Russians from participating in such art exhibitions, even where the European Commission itself is involved.” Virkkunen clarified that the European Commission provides financial support not to the entire Venice Biennale, but to the part that concerns the film industry. “There are still a few weeks left until the opening of the Biennale, scheduled for May, so we expect them to change their minds in the next few weeks,” Virkkunen underlined. “Otherwise, we are evaluating the possibility of suspending or revoking the funding. This also applies to the overall structure of the Biennale.” In this regard, he noted that allowing the Russian government to open its pavilion at the Biennale Arte “already contradicts our sanctions regime in itself.”

On March 11, European Commission spokesperson Thomas Rainier said for the first time that Brussels may revoke €2 million in funding for the Venice Biennale due to its invitation to Russia to open its national pavilion at the 2026 Biennale Arte (9 May – 22 November).

Previously, Mikhail Shvydkoy, representative of the Russian president for international cultural cooperation, told the Tass agency that Russia should participate in all major international cultural events and that Ukraine’s dissatisfaction with Russian participation in the Venice Biennale should not influence the decisions of the organizers. The last time Russia presented its own project at the Venice Biennale pavilion was in 2021, when it received a special mention from the jury.