The entire prize committee of the Venice Biennale is resigning

Visual artsThe board previously said that it will not award prizes to artists from countries accused of war crimes.

In May the international award committee of the opening Venice Biennale is resigning, the news agency AFP and The New York Times.

The resignation announcement came just a few days after the award committee toldthat it will not award prizes to artists who come from countries accused of war crimes.

At the time, the board did not mention which countries by name, but in practice the notification concerned Russia and Israel, which have been under investigation by the International Criminal Court (ICC) due to the wars in Ukraine and Gaza.

In March, it was reported that the Venice Biennale decided to allow Russia to participate in the event.

Five-person The awards committee released a terse statement on their resignation on Thursday, saying only that they had resigned and referring to their statement last week not to award awards to artists from countries accused of war crimes.

Board members did not respond to a request for comment from The New York Times on Thursday, but a spokesperson for the biennial confirmed their resignations.

The Venice Biennale is one of the most internationally known contemporary art exhibitions. It opens on May 9 and is open until November.

By Editor