“Russia kills! Biennale exhibits!”
“Disobey! Disobey! Disobey!”
“Art for show, graves below!”
“Blood is Russia’s art!”
“Slava Ukraini!”
Those were some of the chants from a few dozen protesters, some clad in pink balaclavas, some with bared breasts, floral crowns, and messages scrawled across their bodies, outside the Russian Pavilion at the 2026 Venice Biennale on Wednesday morning. Like clockwork at 11 a.m., under light rain in the Giardini, the group descended on the structure, inside which the country’s official national participation is on view. Some protesters carried guitars, mock-performing to punk rock and hip-hop blaring from large portable speakers. With that soundtrack and with hundreds of observers and press crushing in to support, cheer, and/or shoot video, the leafy area outside the pavilion’s green-painted facade quickly took on something of the feel of the mosh pit at a punk concert.
The protest was led by Nadya Tolokonnikova and other members of Pussy Riot, the famous protest band and art project, who joined forces with FEMEN, which describes itself as “an international women’s movement of brave topless female activists painted with the slogans and crowned with flowers.” Founded in Ukraine in 2008, the latter group fights patriarchy “in its three manifestations—sexual exploitation of women, dictatorship and religion.” Protesters sent up plumes of pink smoke, echoing their headwear, alternating with yellow and blue smoke, the colors of the Ukrainian flag.
FEMEN and Pussy Riot protest.
Courtesy Pussy Riot, Taisiya Krugovykh & Vasily Bogatov
“Russia is waging a war against what they call the ‘collective West,’” Tolokonnikova told a gathering of press before the action, “so it’s surprising to me that Europe still opens doors for Russian propaganda. It’s not about free speech and censorship. If the Venice Biennale really cared about censorship, instead of Russian artists, they would work with artists who are currently incarcerated for supporting Ukraine, for standing up against the regime, for burning military draft offices. Those people are in jail for thousands of years for mostly ridiculous charges.”
Tolokonnikova has proposed that she and her allies take over the Russia Pavilion, and putting in its place an alternative exhibition that would demonstrate how Russia is “once again turning into a gulag,” Tolokonnikova has said. Their proposed show, “Resistance Imprisoned,” is on view through May 31 at Ritsch-Fisch Galerie in Strasbourg, France. Incarcerated artists are included, along with former political prisoners.
“If art is meant to represent a country at the Venice Biennale—something like the Olympics of the art world—then artists imprisoned for their anti-war, pro-Ukraine stance are the real face of modern Russia,” said Tolokonnikova in a statement supplied before the action.
“Every Russian artwork shown this year stands on an invisible pedestal: Ukrainian blood,” said FEMEN’s Inna Shevchenko in the statement. “You won’t find it in the catalogue. But it is the only material that truly holds this pavilion together.”
Pussy Riot’s actions have previously earned them prison time, including after they filmed a music video in 2012 in a Moscow church, calling it a “punk prayer” to save Russia from its president, Vladimir Putin. They were convicted of hooliganism motivated by religious hatred and sentenced to two years in prison.
Russia’s participation has been highly contested due to its ongoing war in Ukraine, ever since the country announced in March that it would return after not organizing a show for two straight editions. Some 22 high-ranking politicians representing European nations signed an open letter calling Russia’s presence “deeply troubling.” In April, Ukraine imposed sanctions on five Russian cultural figures who are involved with organizing Russia’s contribution.
Just days before the show was to open to the press and VIPs on Tuesday, the Italian culture minister launched an investigation into any “irregularities” in documentation sufficient to prevent the pavilion from opening to the public on Saturday, including issues related to entry visas obtained for the Russian artists and their delegation.
After 20 minutes or so, the protesters retreated. Outside the US Pavilion nearby, a speaker at a press conference was reading a statement indicating that the US artist, Alma Allen, is making an argument for ambiguity. There was, however, no ambiguity at the Russia Pavilion.
