WillIsrael participate in the 2026 Venice Biennale? The question resurfaced after, day before yesterday, the group “ANGA” (Art Not Genocide Alliance), a collection of artists, curators, writers and cultural workers who formed in 2024 to call on the Biennale to exclude the Jewish state from that year’s edition, issued a new appeal calling for Israel’s exclusion from next year’s exhibition as well. “After more than 700 days of genocide and 77 years of occupation, apartheid and ethnic cleansing, the Biennale’s decision to provide a platform for a state responsible for these atrocities is unacceptable,” the group writes on its channels. “ANGA calls for the immediate and complete exclusion of ’Israel’ from the Venice Biennale.” Otherwise, the group has already made it known that it is ready for a total boycott by artists and the public at the next Biennale.
How do things stand at the moment? As of today, Israel’s participation is confirmed, although the Jewish State’s Ministry of Culture and Sports is moving much later than usual: in fact, the call for projects soliciting artists willing to participate was published on the Ministry’s website only last August 27 and is due the day after tomorrow, September 28. It means, meanwhile, that artists have had only one month to apply, but more importantly, that from the closing of the call to the opening of the Biennale, scheduled for May 2026, little more than six months will pass: a very short time to allow artists to work (usually, in fact, Israel launches the competition at least 18 months in advance).
In addition, in 2026, the Jewish state will have another space, as the Israel Pavilion located at the Giardini will undergo renovations, consequently next year’s Israeli exhibition will be hosted in an alternative pavilion. The space has already been identified: it will be Weapons Room G in the Arsenal, located near the Corderie. Israel has also not let on how much will be spent on the exhibition: it is only known that the amount of the budget that will be determined for participation is at the sole discretion of the State of Israel and is subject to the approval of budgets and budget availability for 2025-2026 by the Ministry of Culture and Sports and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
At the 2024 edition, Israel was present, but by choice of the artists and curators, the Pavilion had remained closed: in fact, in the days of the pre-opening, a sign had been hung outside the door of the building letting it be known that the exhibition would be opened the moment a ceasefire and hostage release agreement was reached. As is well known, the agreement was never there, some hostages are still in the hands of Hamas, and the exhibition was never opened. Now, however, almost two years later, the situation is quite different, and if Israel’s participation is confirmed it certainly will not have an easy time, since a Pavilion is seen as a kind of small embassy of the hosted country, and each Pavilion officially represents its country. And it really cannot be said that the Israeli government, in recent months, has been trying to build a good image for itself before the eyes of the world. Israel will therefore have to reckon with an environment that will be quite hostile toward it, and the same goes for the whole Biennale, which, as we have seen, risks a boycott.
For artists, an additional problem (and, at the same time, a possibility) then arises. That’s what Israeli curator Hagit Peleg Rotem , who entrusted Portfolio magazine with her thoughts, thinks: “From the artists’ point of view, it is difficult to consider participating in the Biennale without facing a political dilemma: how can one take on a representative role in a country where there is such a deep rift between the representation of the people and that of the government? At the same time, one can see this as an opportunity: to be the ’right’ representatives of the country as we would like to see it. Personally, I don’t know what and how one can present at such a time. What exhibition can be meaningful, without being explosive, when there are so many open wounds and burning issues? Who would accept to endure attacks and insults for six months (excluding the preparation period)? Nonetheless, I dare to hope that the terrible situation will not silence the artists who have been dreaming and working on Biennale-oriented projects. And perhaps it is time to choose a curatorial concept that offers a group exhibition-something that has not been seen in the Israeli pavilion of the Art Biennale for many years. An exhibition that gives space to a multitude of talents, without putting all the weight on the shoulders of a single artist. Turn down the volume of the stars and listen to different voices. This could be an exercise in listening to the main theme of the Biennale.”
Israel’s current culture minister, Miki Zohar, is affiliated with Likud and thus does not belong to the far-right parties of the coalition that supports Benjamin Netanyahu, but he has expressed ultra-orthodox positions several times. Just a few days ago, when the Israeli Academy of Film and Television had the drama film The Sea (which tells the story of a young boy from Ramallah who would like to see the sea and, stopped by Israeli soldiers at a checkpoint, decides to make the journey clandestinely) win five Ophir awards (Israel’s highest film award), Zohar himself announced the withdrawal of government funding at the awards ceremony. “There is no greater slap in the face of Israeli citizens than the embarrassing and aloof annual Ophir Awards ceremony,” he wrote in X last Sept. 17. “Starting with the 2026 budget, this pathetic ceremony will no longer be funded with taxpayers’ money. Under my supervision, Israeli citizens will not pay out of their own pockets for a ceremony that spits in the face of our heroic soldiers.” Given these assumptions, in short, it will be difficult to expect an exhibition critical of the current government, or at least an ecumenical one: easier, if anything, that the exhibition will touch on topics far removed from politics.
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