The Venice Biennale, with its national pavilion structure, has always been a platform for political expression and soft power, a reality evident from its early 20th-century origins. Contemporary critic Arturo Lancellotti's 1909 review of the German and British pavilions was steeped in geopolitical context, revealing how national artistic displays were interpreted through the lens of imperial power and military alliances.
This inherent politicization remains intensely relevant today, as recent editions have become flashpoints for protest against nations accused of aggression, including Russia, Israel, and the United States. The event's very architecture—with pavilions often funded or coordinated by government foreign offices rather than cultural departments—cements its role as a stage for national propaganda, making calls for an 'apolitical' Biennale a fundamental misunderstanding of its nature.