Lower thirds:

0:05  Report by / Elisabetta Galla
0:58  Pietrangelo Buttafuoco / Biennale President
1:20  Leonid Marushchak / Curator Ukrainian pavillon
1:46  Zhanna Kadyrova / Artist
2:38  Belu-Simion Fainaru / Artist 

Script:

Atmo
Blood is Russia’s art! Blood is Russia’s Art!

This performance is not part of the official program of the Venice Biennale. The feminist activist collective Pussy Riot is protesting the reopening of the Russian Pavilion, absent from previous editions following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

They are not the only ones who see it as a form of propaganda aimed at “whitewashing” the war.

The European Union is also opposed to this opening.

The pavilion features a musical performance involving more than fifty musicians. To avoid sanctions, the artists will perform only during the press preview and the piece will subsequently be screened outside the pavilion. 

The idea was fully supported by Biennale President Pietrangelo Buttafuoco. He says the foundation does not control the national pavilions and simply follows the law.

+++ SOT Pietrangelo Buttafuoco, Biennale President +++
If the Biennale were to start selecting passports instead of artworks, it would cease to be what it has always been: the place where the world comes together.

But that position hasn’t put an end to the debate.

+++ SOT Leonid Marushchak, curator Ukrainian pavillon +++
We should not tolerate the narrative that art is outside of politics, especially when we're talking about countries waging open war, like Russia with Ukraine.

The installation at the Ukrainian Pavilion follows the journey of the concrete sculpture “Origami Deer,” evacuated after the Russian offensive: six thousand kilometers from the Donbas to Venice.

+++ SOT Zhanna Kadyrova, Artist +++
It's a piece who needs to escape to survive as millions of Ukrainians who lost their home and looking for their new home around the world.

The Russian pavilion is not the only focus of controversy.

Artists participating in the main exhibition held a peaceful procession for their colleagues killed in Gaza. Outside the Biennale, protests are taking place against the inclusion of the Israeli pavilion in the exhibition.

Artist Belu-Simion Fainaru, this year’s representative at the Israeli Pavilion, feels discriminated against.

+++ SOT Belu-Simion Fainaru, Artist +++
I am for free protest, but I don't think it's a right protest that is based on boycott. Like boycott me as an artist. Boycott me because I am a Jewish artist, that I have Israeli passport. I can say I have a Romanian passport. I was not boycotted as Romanian.

The artist represented the Romanian pavilion in 2019.

With its national pavilions acting as official, state-sponsored platforms showcasing contemporary art, the Venice Biennale is this year more than ever entangled in geopolitical tensions.