Strikes and Protests Target Israel's Participation at Venice Biennale

On Friday, protests will take place against Israel's participation at the Venice Biennale, with a 24-hour cultural strike called by a coalition of Italian and international labor federations and activist groups.

The strike, the first to be organized within the framework of the prestigious art festival, follows protests on the first preview day concerning the participation of Russia and Israel. On Wednesday, the Art Not Genocide Alliance (Anga) staged a direct action in solidarity with Palestine outside the Israeli pavilion at the Arsenale complex of the Venice Biennale.

Hundreds of protesters, holding banners such as 'No artwashing genocide' and 'No genocide pavilion,' gathered to hear speeches from artists and arts workers exhibiting and working at this year's Biennale. All opposed Israel's participation in the festival. Israel has killed dozens of Palestinian artists and destroyed numerous cultural and artistic sites during its genocide in Gaza.

'We are here to express a refusal to tolerate the destruction of genocide in the name of freedom,' Anga said in a statement. This direct action followed the Biennale's management's refusal to respond to a letter Anga sent on March 17, demanding the immediate exclusion of the Israeli pavilion. The letter was signed by 236 artists, curators, and staff participating in this year's festival. International artists such as Alfredo Jaar, Brian Eno, Lubaina Himid, Yto Barrada, and Cauleen Smith were among the signatories.

'No artist or cultural worker should be asked to share a platform with a genocidal state. As long as Israel exists through genocide, ethnic cleansing, and apartheid, it cannot be represented at the Venice Biennale,' the letter stated. 'We remind that Israeli violence also targets art and culture, which is supposed to be inviolable for the Biennale.'

In March, Anga told Middle East Eye that their demand targets 'state representation, not individuals,' including Israeli artists. 'A national pavilion at the Venice Biennale is the official cultural representation of that state,' Anga said, adding they did not believe artists opposing the genocide in Gaza and expansion in the West Bank 'should be used as a cultural fig leaf for state violence.' 'In fact, the current arrangement places artists in an impossible position by forcing them to legitimize Israel's presence regardless of their personal views,' the group said.

The world-famous Biennale, which opens to the public on Saturday but holds events this week, alternates annually between art and architecture exhibitions. The festival has 29 permanent national pavilions at the Venice Giardini, where artists chosen by their countries exhibit. The Israeli pavilion, inaugurated in 1952, is one of the permanent sites. At the last art Biennale in 2024, months after the genocide in Gaza began, Anga launched a campaign against Israel's participation with an open letter signed by over 24,000 people. The pavilion was eventually closed by Ruth Patir, the Israeli artist scheduled to show her work there. In 2025, Israel did not participate in the architecture Biennale, citing a need for pavilion renovation.

Patir's closure of the national pavilion in 2024 prompted the Israeli government to include a clause in its contract for the 2026 Biennale requiring the selected artist to ensure the pavilion remains open. But this year, Israel's work is not displayed in the pavilion. Normally, this would mean Israel rents space on the private market, but the Biennale allowed Israel to move to a temporary space in the Venice Arsenale, a complex of former shipyards and armories used as exhibition spaces. Anga described this decision as a 'clear institutional endorsement at a time of escalating violence.'

On Friday, Anga, Biennalocene, Sale Docks, Mi Riconosci, Vogliamo Tutt'altro, and other grassroots national and local cultural organizations, along with Italian labor unions such as Associazione Difesa Lavoratori (ADL Cobas), Unione Sindacale di Base (USB), and Confederazione Unitaria di Base (CUB), called for a 24-hour strike in the cultural sector. Italian labor unions have previously organized industrial actions at the country's ports, with dockworkers refusing to load military supplies and other cargo onto ships bound for Israel.

'This is the first organized strike to take place within the Biennale framework,' Anga said. 'It will be an important moment, bringing together different organizations and sending a clear message during the preview days of the Biennale.'

Beyond Israel, the Biennale has also faced criticism for allowing Russia to return to exhibit for the first time since its invasion of Ukraine. While the Italian Ministry of Culture welcomed Israel's participation, it criticized Russia's presence. The Russian delegation is led by Anastasia Karneeva, daughter of a former intelligence officer, and Ekaterina Vinokurova, daughter of Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.

At a press conference on Wednesday, Biennale president Pietrangelo Buttafuoco, a right-wing journalist from Sicily who converted to Islam in 2015, addressed Russia's return. 'The whole world born of the French Revolution, the Enlightenment, and secularism has reversed into its opposite: a laboratory of intolerance, and demands for censorship, closure, and exclusion,' he said. 'The Biennale is not a court; it is a garden of peace. We cannot close it, we cannot boycott as an automatic response. We must discuss. We can disagree, and we do so strongly.'