La Biennale di Venezia on the National Participations and Collateral Events
A statement by La Biennale di Venezia about the International Art Exhibition.
With regard to the participation in the International Art Exhibition of the Countries represented in the Pavilions of the Giardini, the Arsenale and in the city of Venice, La Biennale di Venezia would like to specify that all Countries recognized by the Italian Republic may autonomously request to participate officially.
Consequently, La Biennale may not take into consideration any petition or call to exclude the participation of Israel or Iran in the coming 60th International Art Exhibition (20 April – 24 November 2024).
La Biennale furthermore notes that the decision to close the Russian Pavilion at the 59th International Art Exhibition in 2022 was made by the Commissioner and the Curator designated by the Minister of Culture of the Russian Federation, which announced that it would not participate in the coming 60th International Art Exhibition.
With regard to the cited exclusion of applications to participate as Collateral Events of the 60th International Art Exhibition, we would like to clarify that out of 72 eligible projects, two featured the participation of Palestinian artists, one of which was selected as one of the 30 Collateral Events approved at the complete discretion of the Curator Adriano Pedrosa, whose artistic decision is final and irrevocable.
There are also Palestinian artists in the 60th International Art Exhibition curated by Adriano Pedrosa, as was informed by the list of artists released by La Biennale on January 31st, 2024.