The decision of the Venice Biennale to accept Russian artists provoked a sharp reaction. The EU wants to reduce funding and demands a tougher stance towards Moscow.
The head of diplomacy of the European Union, Kaja Kallas, announced in Luxembourg on Tuesday that Brussels plans to limit the funding of the international art exhibition in Venice, the Biennale di Venezia, after the organizers’ decision to allow the participation of Russian artists this year. TASR informs about it according to a report by the Politico portal.
- The EU plans to cut funding for the Venice Biennale because of Russia.
- Brussels does not agree with the participation of Russian artists in the exhibition.
- Twenty-five countries demanded the exclusion of Russia from the event.
- Organizers say the biennale is a place for dialogue.
“While Russia is bombing museums, destroying churches and trying to erase Ukrainian culture, it should not be allowed to exhibit its own,” Kallas said after the meeting of EU foreign ministers. She added that Russia’s return to the biennial is morally wrong and the EU plans to cut its funding.
One of the most prestigious art events in the world plans to allow Russian participation again in 2022 for the first time since the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which has provoked criticism in Europe. Twenty-five European countries in a joint statement demanded the exclusion of Russia from the exhibition. Latvia’s Ministry of Culture said Moscow’s participation would provide legitimacy to the sanctioned state through a publicly funded European cultural platform.
The MPs called for sanctions
In a letter to the President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen and Kallas, a group of 37 members of the European Parliament called for the suspension of the financing of the exhibition in the amount of approximately two million euros for three years and for the consideration of sanctions against persons connected with the Russian pavilion.
The organizers of the event defend their decision by saying that it is a space for dialogue, where art should be separated from politics. However, more and more European politicians are questioning whether cultural neutrality is possible at the time of the ongoing war in Ukraine. 99 countries are to be presented at this edition from May 9 to November 22.
The Russian pavilion is to host an exhibition called The Tree Is Rooted in the Sky, which will feature approximately 40 Russian artists. Artists from Ukraine, Belarus, Iran, Israel and the United States will also exhibit at the biennial. Slovakia and the Czech Republic will have a joint exhibition project called The Silence of the Mole. It was created on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the opening of the Czechoslovak Pavilion in Venice. Its presentation is organized by the National Gallery Prague (NGP) in cooperation with the Slovak National Gallery (SNG).
