Numerous Venice Biennale Pavilions and Artists Go on Strike in Protest over Israel’s Participation

Thousands of demonstrators marched in the streets of Venice on the eve of the public opening of the Venice Biennale on Saturday in protest of Israel’s presence in the show. The protest was organized by Art Not Genocide Alliance (ANGA), an international group of artists, curators, writers, and cultural workers.

By the afternoon, the organizers had secured a lengthy list of national pavilions that would be shut down completely or in part for a 24-hour strike, including Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Ecuador, Egypt, Estonia, Finland, France, Great Britain, Iceland, Korea, Lebanon, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Switzerland, Turkey, and Ukraine. They said it was the largest action of its kind in the history of the Biennale. 

“Israel has killed over 73,000 people in Gaza, with a further 10,000 missing,” said the organizers in a press release. “It has systematically destroyed hospitals, schools, refugee camps, cultural institutions, and civilian infrastructure. Its leadership faces ICC arrest warrants for war crimes and crimes against humanity. The Biennale knows this and it chooses to accommodate Israel anyway.”

“From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free!” chanted protesters, alternating with musical selections like Macklemore’s “Hind’s Hall,” Saint Levant’s “From Gaza With Love,” and Shelat’s “Leva Palestina,” A giant banner carried at the front of the march, nearly as wide as a broad Venice street, read “no genocide pavilions.”

“The workers united will never be defeated,” chanted the marchers, following up the classic with their own adaptation of it for the nonce: “The artists united will never be defeated.”

Organizer Sara Alberani, an art historian, said that demonstrators had come from Padua, Vicenza, and other cities to join the demonstration. ANGA released a statement on March 17, she announced at the demonstration, demanding that Israel be excluded from the Biennale. She said it had 236 signatories, including the organizers of 18 national pavilions, 111 artists, 38 curators, and 81 art workers. Signatories include international artists Sophia Al-Maria, Yto Barrada, Brian Eno, Lubaina Himid, Alfredo Jaar, Cauleen Smith, Gala Porras-Kim, Kemang Wa Lehulere, and curators Rasha Salti and Gabe Beckhurst Feijoo—both part of the curatorial team of the main exhibition, “In Minor Keys.”

“Our demands have been ignored,” she shouted. 

Flyers circulating around the Biennale grounds read, riffing on Thomas Mann’s classic novel, “No death in Venice—No to the genocide pavilion.”

The rally began at 4:30 p.m. on Friday and made its way to the lagoon, where protesters waved Palestinian flags, No Kings banners and other signs in the shadow of the superyachts docked along the waterfront. 

ANGA organized the strike alongside Italian activist organizations Biennalocene, Mi Riconosci?, Sale Docks, and Vogliamo Tutt’altro, which have long fought for better working conditions in the cultural sector, not least at the Biennale itself, as well as the starving of the public good in favor of military spending.

The protest also targeted substandard working conditions for cultural workers, including those contributing to the running of the Biennale itself.

“There can be no business as usual while Palestinians continue to face mass killing, displacement, siege, and occupation,” say press materials, “and while cultural workers themselves are pushed into increasingly precarious conditions.”

Some artists present were wearing white printed with the Palestinian flag and the names of Palestinian artists who were unable to come to Venice, some because they are no longer alive. Nina Katchadourian, a signatory to ANGA’s demands, wore a shirt bearing the name of Maria Mughari. “She was a 20-something art student,” Katchadourian explained, “and she was killed in a drone strike. She reminds me of a student of mine. To do this feels very meaningful, like a real point of contact.” She showed me a photo of Mughari, pointing at the sky, adding, “From that sky came what killed her.”