The Venice Biennale’s jury said on Thursday that it would not consider nations whose leaders have been charged with crimes against humanity by the International Criminal Court—a move that effectively tosses Israel and Russia out of the running for the top honors at the world’s greatest art exhibition.
Issued the day after the jury was announced by the Biennale, the statement spoke of “a responsibility towards the historical role of the Biennale as a platform that connects art to the urgencies of its time.” The jury, led by Videobrasil founder Solange Farkas, said it was committed to the “defense of human rights” that was in keeping with Biennale curator Koyo Kouoh’s vision for the main exhibition.
“Consequently,” the statement continues, “this jury will refrain from the consideration of those countries whose leaders are currently charged with crimes against humanity by the International Criminal Court.”
A select few countries are currently facing those charges from the ICC. The ICC put out an arrest warrant on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity in 2024 for Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s Prime Minister, for his nation’s invasion of Gaza in the year prior. In 2023, the ICC put out a similar arrest warrant for Vladimir Putin, Russia’s President, for his nation’s invasion of Ukraine in the year prior.
Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir is also facing charges of genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity with the ICC, but his nation does not have a Venice Biennale pavilion. Two Afghan leaders were indicted by the ICC last year, but Afghanistan also does not have an official presence at the Biennale.
A Biennale spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Both Israel and Russia’s pavilions have been particularly controversial at this edition of the Biennale. Dozens of artists within Kouoh’s main show, and even some of the curatorial advisers that she brought on before her death in 2025, signed an open letter that called for the exclusion of these two pavilions, as well as the US’s. (No American leader is currently indicted by the ICC.)
“There is a threshold beyond which participation in La Biennale should not be normalized,” the artists and curatorial advisers said in their open letter. “As in 2022, the current conditions demand that La Biennale di Venezia exclude any official delegation from current regimes committing war crimes, including Israel, Russia, and the United States.”
That letter, along with one released before it by the Art Not Genocide Alliance, called out the lack of a pavilion for Palestine, something that the artists said “heightens the inequality implicit in the accommodation of the Israeli pavilion.” Palestine does not have an official national pavilion at the Biennale because it is not recognized as a country within Italy.
The Biennale has claimed it does not have the right to exclude any nation recognized in Italy from participating. The exhibition has said it “rejects any form of exclusion or censorship of culture and art.”
Russia, which has a dedicated pavilion in the Giardini, one of the Biennale’s main venues, is participating for the first time since the onset of the nation’s war in Ukraine. In 2022, the artists representing Russia, Alexandra Sukhareva and Kirill Savchenkov, closed their pavilion, calling the war in Ukraine “unbearable.” In 2024, Russia turned over its pavilion to Bolivia instead of participating.
Israel also has a pavilion in the Giardini, but the nation has said it is renovating that structure. Instead, the Israeli Pavilion will this year be staged in the Arsenale, another main venue of the Biennale, a move that some have alleged is intended to account for any potential protests. Demonstrations followed Israel’s 2024 pavilion, which was closed on opening day by its artist, Ruth Patir, who said she would only reopen it upon the release of the hostages taken by Hamas and a ceasefire in Gaza. Neither of those things happened during the course of the 2024 Biennale.
Within Europe, a number of politicians have focused specifically on the Russian Pavilion. Politicians from Finland and Latvia, both of whom also stage Venice Biennale pavilions, have said they won’t attend the exhibition’s opening if the Russian Pavilion goes on view. Meanwhile, the European Union said it will cut off funding to the Biennale because of its plans to mount the Russian Pavilion; past editions of the Biennale have reportedly received up to €2 million each in EU funding.
