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Dozens of Venice Biennale Artists Withdraw From Awards En Masse

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As the 61st Venice Biennale opens its doors to the public today, May 9, 54 artists in the international exhibition and 22 national pavilion teams have issued their withdrawal from awards consideration in solidarity with the jury's resignation. A complete list of artists, duos, and collectives that withdrew is included at the end of this article.

The Biennale jury announced its resignation on April 30, about a week after stating it would not be considering “countries whose leaders are currently charged with crimes against humanity by the International Criminal Court (ICC)” for awards, effectively disqualifying Israel and Russia. The Biennale Foundation confirmed to Hyperallergic that prior to the jury’s resignation, Israel Pavilion artist Belu-Simion Fainaru had filed legal warnings alleging that the jury's statement of intent amounted to antisemitism and nationality-based discrimination.

The Foundation then scrapped the traditional Golden Lion awards for this year and instituted the new “Visitor Lions,” awards decided by public vote that will be announced on the Biennale's final viewing date, November 22. The Biennale's announcement made clear that both Israel and Russia were back in the running for the new accolades, as all national pavilions would be considered.

In a statement published on e-flux today, almost half of the 111 artists, duos, and collectives included in In Minor Keys as well as 16 national pavilion exhibitors issued their withdrawal from consideration for the Visitor Lions.

The official announcement comes shortly after multiple protests at the Russian and Israeli pavilions during the preview period, and yesterday's historic labor strike at the Biennale that shuttered multiple pavilions and the Arsenale complex where Israel's temporary pavilion is located.

Hyperallergic has reached out to the Biennale press office for comment.

When the Biennale Foundation confirmed the return of Israel and Russia for the 61st Venice Biennale early in March, the majority of In Minor Keys artists and dozens of pavilion exhibitors demanded Israel's exclusion from the event in an open letter. Among them, Carolina Caycedo told Hyperallergic that she felt that exhibiting artists were being “dragged into a position of complicity by having to share the Arsenale with this State Pavilion [Israel] — that was not there previously.”

The signatories are as follows:

In Minor Keys

Fabric Aragno

arms ache avid aeon

Laurie Anderson

Sammy Baloji

Éric Baudelaire

Sabian Baumann

Nancy Brooks Brody Estate

BuBu de la madeleine

Carolina Caycedo

Annalee Davis

Bonnie Devine

Nolan Oswald Dennis

rana elnemr

Joy Episalla

Rachel Fallon

Sofía Gallisá Muriente

Joana Hadjithomas & Khalil Joreige

Sohrab Hura

Mohammed Joha

fierce pussy

Alfredo Jaar

Michael Joo

Nina Katchadourian

Guadalupe Maravilla

Natalia Lassalle Morillo

Florence Lazar

Zoe Leonard

Alice Maher

Sally Mizrachi

Avi Mograbi & Avital Barak

Tuan Andrew Nguyen

Otobong Nkanga

Hagar Ophir

Uriel Orlow

Alan Phelan

Leonard Pongo

Walid Raad

Mohammed Z. Rahman

Tabita Rezaire

Guadalupe Rosales

Yo-E Ryou

Rose Salane

Carrie Schneider

Hala Schoukair

Berni Searle

Yoshiko Shimada

Himali Singh Soin and David Soin Tappeser

Cauleen Smith

Vera Tamari

Jo-ey Tang

Carrie Yamaoka

Raed Yassin

Thania Petersen

National Pavilion Exhibitors

Belgium
Miet Warlop, Artist; Caroline Dumalin, Curator & Team

Luxembourg
Aline Bouvy & Stilbé Schroeder

France
Yto Barrada

Slovenia
Nonument Group (Neja Tomšič, Martin Bricelj Baraga, Nika Grabar, Miloš Kosec); Nataša Petrešin-Bachelez, Curator

Latvia
MAREUNROL’S, Bruno Birmanis & Team

Lithuania
Egle Budvytyte, Artist; Louise O’Kelly, Curator

Switzerland
Gianmaria Andreetta, Luca Beeler, Miriam Laura Leonardi, Lithic Alliance, Yul Tomatala, Nina Wakeford

Spain
Oriol Vilanova

The Netherlands
Dries Verhoeven, Artist; Rieke Vos, Curator

Poland
Bogna Burska & Daniel Kotowski, Artists; Ewa Chomicka & Jolanta Woszczenko, Curators

Ecuador
Boloh Miranda, Tatiana Lopez, Sani Montahuano, Mukutsawa Montahuano, Enoc Merino, Tawna Collective

Ireland
Isabel Nolan, Artist; Georgina Jackson, Curator; Cian O’Brien, Producer

Kosovo
Brilant Milazimi

Finland
Juha Huuskonen, Commissioner

Czech Republic and Slovakia
Jakub Jansa, Selmeci Kocka Jusko, Artists; Peter Sit, Curator

Cyprus
Marina Xenofontos

Albania
Genti Korini

United Arab Emirates
Farah Al Qasimi
Türkiye
Nilbar Güreş, Artist; Başak Doğa Temür, Curator

Grenada
Group Show; Susan Mains, Commissioner

Iceland
Ásta Fanney Sigurðardóttir

Moldova
Pavel Brăila, Artist; Adelina Luft, Curator

Editor's note 5/11/26 10:30am ET: This story was updated with new pavilion and individual artist signatories.

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Almost half of the artists in the international exhibition plus 22 national pavilions signed onto a statement of withdrawal in solidarity with the jury’s resignation.

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Almost half of the artists in the international exhibition plus 22 national pavilions signed onto a statement of withdrawal in solidarity with the jury’s resignation.