Biennial of discord kicks off, nine countries to debut (but Iran will not be there at the last)

The decisive week of the Venice International Art Biennale kicks off today with a special pre-opening of the gates at the Giardini and the Arsenale by invitation only for journalists, so not for the public. The president of the Foundation Pietrangelo Buttafuoco will also be there, but only for a photocall. After the fiery days of discord with the arrival of the inspectors at Ca' Giustinian, the demissions of the International Jury, the birth of the Visitors' Lions and the cancellation of the official ceremony on the opening day, 9 May, to which the Minister of Culture Alessandro Giuli had already forfeited, the 61st Exhibition is on the starting blocks.

"In Minor Keys" will be flanked by one hundred national participations and 31 collateral events. Nine countries will be present at the Art Biennale for the first time: Republic of Guinea, Republic of Equatorial Guinea, Republic of Nauru, Qatar, Republic of Sierra Leone, Federal Republic of Somalia, Socialist Republic of Vietnam, Seychelles and Tanzania (with its own pavilion El Salvador). Iran, which had confirmed its presence until last February, has announced that adue to the ongoing war it will not be able to set up its own national pavilion. In the face of the return of the Russian Federation, owner of its own national pavilion since 1914 at the Giardini, which has raised so much controversy since March, when the case broke out, the Venice Biennale made it clear that it is "an open institution, and the national participations that arise from spontaneous initiatives are an expression of this".

The exhibition of this edition's curator, Koyo Kouoh, who died in May 2025, and the national pavilions at the Giardini and Arsenale, including those of Moscow and Israel, will finally be previewed. Between art, performances and appointments dedicated to Dissent and Peace for the Biennial of the Word, the vernissage will end on 8 May and protests are announced outside the events. During the four days of the opening, starting on 5 May at 10 a.m., the artists of the Russian Pavilion will start recording the performance 'The Tree is Routed in the Sky'. Between music, art and readings, some 30 artists will be involved, not only from Russia, but also from Argentina, Brazil, Mali and Mexico. The opening - by invitation only - is on 6 May at 5 p.m. After registration, the Pavilion will be closed for the duration of the exhibition, until 22 November. Russia, under the current sanctions, "could not obtain permits to open the Pavilion to the public," the Biennale explained, and therefore visitors will be able to see the performance on large screens outside and also vote for the Visitors' Lion dedicated to the national pavilions, after the readmission of Russia and Israel in the competition from which they had been excluded by the Jury (as countries whose leaders are accused of crimes against humanity).

The Israel Pavilion, which will be at the Arsenale and not at the Giardini due to renovation works, will host the artist Belu-Simion Fainaru with his sculptures, the protagonist of what the Israeli Foreign Ministry called a 'boycott'. The opening - also by invitation - is on 8 May at 11 a.m. On 6 May, all eyes will be on Pietrangelo Buttafuoco at the press conference at 12 noon at the Teatro Piccolo Arsenale, with the president of the Foundation and the Koyo Kouoh team on his first official outing after the controversy. From 6 to 8 May, the three evenings, from 7 to 8 pm, of the Biennale della Parola / Dissent and Peace will be staged in the Sala delle Colonne at Ca' Giustinian, with admission subject to availability for those accredited at the pre-opening. The first appointment is with Russian director and filmmaker Alexander Sokurov. The second, on 7 May, with Palestinian writer and architect Suad Amiry and the third, on 8 May, with the Biennale's artistic directors Alberto Barbera, Caterina Barbieri, Willem Dafoe, Wayne McGregor, Wang Shu and Lu Wenyu. With this series of meetings, La Biennale is also responding to the dozens of Italian and Russian artists, intellectuals and professors who have called for the doors to be opened to "real dissidents", giving a voice in some way to the 31 imprisoned Russian artists.

The opening to the public on 9 May will be preceded and accompanied by events outside the gates. On 6 May, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., there will be 'From the Margins of the Empire to the Open Lagoon. Names. Faces. Voices' to 'make visible artists of the indigenous and colonised peoples of the Russian Federation', organised by Arts Against Aggression, Memorial Italia, League of Free Nations. On the 8th there will be a mobilisation against Israel's 'Genocide Pavilion' by the 'Art Not Genocide Alliance' collective, and on the 9th there will be a demonstration against the presence of Moscow, Radical Europe, Radicali Venezia and other associations.