La Jornada: Russia’s readmission causes controversy

Rome. The Venice Biennale International Art Exhibition is a space for dialogue “to promote peace” and not a court, the foundation’s director said yesterday in an impassioned speech defending his decision to allow Russia to return to the event.

Moscow has been allowed to reopen its pavilion in the gardens that host the exhibition in the lake city for the first time since its invasion of Ukraine in 2022, which has triggered criticism from the Italian government and the European Union (EU).

However, the president of the Biennale, Pietrangelo Buttafuoco, has remained firm in his position, despite the storm that has broken out since the measure was made public in early March.

“This whole world born of the French Revolution, the Enlightenment and secularism has become its exact opposite: a laboratory of intolerance and demands for censorship, closure and exclusion,” he declared at a press conference.

“The Biennial is not a court; it is a garden of peace. We cannot close it, we cannot boycott it as an automatic response. We must debate. We can disagree, and we do so firmly,” he stated.

EU pressure

Brussels has threatened to withdraw 2 million euros (about 40 million pesos) of funding in response to the decision, while the Italian government has sent inspectors to Venice to investigate the matter. A representative of the Biennale has stated that Russia had not been invited, but had the right to participate because it owns the pavilion.

Due to EU sanctions, Moscow will only be allowed to open its space during the four days of press previews. During the six months of the exhibition, visitors will have to stay outside and watch videos projected on its exterior walls.

Yesterday morning, the feminist protest group Pussy Riot organized a demonstration in front of the Russia building, using pink smoke flares and the colors of the Ukrainian flag.

In a comment on Facebook, the Russian ambassador to Italy, Alexey Paramonov – who was in Venice for the inauguration of the pavilion – criticized the EU for what he called its “irrational obsession with attacking Russian culture and arts.”

“Our presence at the Biennale simply testifies to Russia’s willingness… to continue dialogue with Italy… through the language of culture and art,” he said.