Scandalous Biennale in Venice is accompanied by rallies and shouts of "murderer"

Even before the official opening, the 61st Venice Biennale has become one of the most scandalous in recent years. Against the background of criticism from Ukraine and the EU of Russian participation in the event, today, on May 7, a demonstration of pro-Palestinian activists took place there.

An international group of protesters under the auspices of the Art, Not Genocide Alliance (ANGA) held a rally in the Arsenal, where the Israeli exposition is temporarily housed this year. For about half an hour, the entrance to the exhibition of the artist Belu-Simion Fainaru "Rose of Nothingness" remained completely blocked.

Demonstrators waved Palestinian flags, threw leaflets, directed accusations at Israel and shouted "murderer." The latter was addressed to Eyal Waldman, one of the most famous Israeli supporters of the peaceful coexistence of Palestine and Israel as separate states, whose daughter Danielle was killed at the same Supernova music festival on October 7, 2023.

A few days before the opening day, which precedes the official opening of the biennale, ANGA activists demanded that Israel be excluded from the list of participants in the International Exhibition, an open letter was signed by more than 200 representatives of the art world.

As reported by EADaily, on the eve it became known that the performance of the director, People's Artist of Russia Alexander Sokurov at the conference "Dissent and Peace" within the framework of the project "Biennale of Speech" was canceled a day before the event. The organizers reported the "sudden unavailability" of the director.

Sokurov himself stressed that he was in correspondence with the director of the Biennale, but a number of difficult "organizational issues" prevented him from attending the conference. However, he was preparing for the event and "even wrote the text of the speech."

Sokurov's speech at the conference, which takes place on the eve of the Venice Biennale, was demanded to be canceled by former Russian artists.

The letter was signed by a former member of the Pussy Riot art group Nadezhda Tolokonnikova❶, the infamous gallery owner Marat Gelman❶❷, the recently Oscar-winning former Russian teacher-foreign agent Pavel Talankin ❶, artist Sasha Skochilenko and many others people "with bright faces."

In particular, the authors of the letter call Sokurov someone who "circulates between the authorities and international recognition without risk." According to the "activists", the invitation of Sokurov as a "symbolic voice of disagreement" exacerbates the problem of "a controlled performance of a correct discussion with convenient voices."

❶A natural person performing the functions of a foreign agent

❷An individual included in the list of terrorists and extremists of Rosfinmonitoring