Venice Biennale Opens Amid Political Turmoil, Jury Resigns Over ICC Stance

The Venice Biennale will open with art, but the loudest force around it is politics. The 61st edition begins May 9 and runs through November 22, with 100 National Participations, 31 Collateral Events and first-time national pavilions from Guinea, Equatorial Guinea, Nauru, Qatar, Sierra Leone, Somalia and Vietnam. El Salvador will also appear with its own pavilion for the first time.

At the center of the exhibition is In Minor Keys, the main project curated posthumously by Koyo Kouoh, who was appointed in December 2024 and died in May 2025 at 57. La Biennale said Kouoh had already developed the project before her death, giving the 2026 edition a personal and unfinished charge that now sits beside the institution’s usual fanfare.

That fanfare was disrupted before opening day. The entire international jury resigned on April 30, after announcing a refusal to consider countries whose leaders face International Criminal Court charges, a position that would have affected both Russia and Israel. The jury included Solange Farkas, Zoe Butt, Elvira Dyangani Ose, Marta Kuzma and Giovanna Zapperi. In response, organizers canceled the traditional opening-day Golden Lion awards and replaced them with two new Visitor’s Lions, to be voted on by visitors, while moving the awards ceremony to November 22.

The fallout has exposed how the Biennale still functions less like a neutral art fair than a geopolitical arena. Russia returned this year after missing the previous two editions, and that return immediately drew protest. In Venice on May 6 and 7, pro-Palestinian activists demonstrated outside the Israeli pavilion, while Pussy Riot joined FEMEN in protests against Russia’s presence, with colored smoke and pink balaclavas reported outside the Russian pavilion. Iran announced on May 4 that it would not participate.

Founded in 1895, the Venice Biennale has long been a place where national representation, conflict and cultural prestige collide. This year, that collision has pushed the artwork itself into the background, even as the institution insists the Visitor’s Lions reflect openness, dialogue and rejection of censorship. The question hanging over Venice is no longer only which works will matter, but which flags, protests and diplomatic tensions will define what visitors see first.