A group of 74 artists and curators invited to the 61st Venice Biennale have issued an open letter to the institution's president, Pietrangelo Buttafuoco. The signatories are protesting the decision to relocate the Israeli Pavilion to the Arsenale, placing it in close proximity to the central exhibition 'In Minor Keys' curated by the late Koyo Kouoh. The letter demands the exclusion of official delegations from countries accused of war crimes—specifically Israel, Russia, and the United States—and accuses the Biennale of complicity through its silence on global atrocities.
This development highlights the intensifying pressure on major art institutions to abandon political neutrality in favor of activism. By citing the Biennale's 1974 suspension of national pavilions to protest the Chilean dictatorship, the group argues that the current administration's refusal to take a stance contradicts the event's historical precedent. The dispute underscores a growing rift between institutional leadership and the cultural workers who provide the Biennale's content, potentially overshadowing the 2026 exhibition's curatorial vision.