Israel has responded to a statement released by the Venice Biennale jury, in which its five curators said last week that they would not consider any pavilions by countries who are charged with crimes against humanity by the International Criminal Court.
Calling that move a “boycott,” Israel’s foreign ministry denounced the jury in a statement on X this morning that accused the group of aiding in “a contamination of the art world.”
“The political jury has transformed the Biennale from an open artistic space of free, boundless ideas into a spectacle of false, anti-Israeli political indoctrination,” Israel’s foreign ministry said in its statement.
Belu-Simion Fainaru, the artist representing Israel, also denounced the jury in a statement issued last week.
“The Jury statement creates a hostile and degrading environment. And puts Unequal condition imposed solely on the Israeli participant,” Fainaru wrote. “In this way the jury exceeded its mandate. I must mention that other states with serious violations are not excluded. This statement is the violation of essential equality condition based on legally unstable and arbitrary basis.”
Previously, the jury labeled its decision not to consider nations charged by the ICC a “defense of human rights.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin, much like Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, is facing an arrest warrant from the ICC, and so Russia will not be considered by the jury, either. Putin and Netanyahu were condemned for their nations’ invasions of Ukraine and Gaza, respectively.
Despite controversy over both pavilions, the Biennale’s organizers have claimed the exhibition cannot kick either nation out of the exhibition. According to the Biennale, that’s because the show may host any country recognized as a state within Italy.
The jury was selected by the Biennale following the death of Koyo Kouoh, the curator of the main exhibition. The Biennale has sought to distance itself from the jury, saying last week, “With regard to the statement issued today by the Jurors, this is a position that the members have chosen to anticipate and make public. It represents a natural expression of the freedom and autonomy which La Biennale guarantees.”
