Almost half of the artists in the international exhibition plus 16 national pavilions signed onto a statement of withdrawal in solidarity with the jury’s resignation.
As the 61st Venice Biennale opens its doors to the public today, May 9, 54 artists in the international exhibition and 16 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
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
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
