Israel’s Venice Biennale Artist Responds to Calls for Exclusion: ‘I Do Not Support Cultural Boycotts’
Belu-Simion Fainaru, the artist representing Israel at the forthcoming Venice Biennale, issued a statement to ARTnews rejecting calls to exclude Israel and saying, “As an artist, I do not support cultural boycotts,” emphasizing dialogue and openness. His response comes amid protests and open letters organized by groups including the Art Not Genocide Alliance, which labeled Israel a “genocidal state” and demanded its removal, citing “two and a half years of open genocide against Palestine” and 77 years since the Nakba. ARTnews reports that the letter was signed by dozens of artists in the main exhibition curated by Koyo Kouoh, as well as two curatorial advisers appointed by Kouoh before her death last year, and by numerous national representatives. The Biennale has said it cannot exclude any nation recognized by Italy and reiterated that it rejects “exclusion or censorship,” while noting that Palestine lacks a national pavilion because it is not recognized as a country in Italy, though a Gaza-focused collateral exhibition is organized by the Palestine Museum US.
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This story was covered in Restitution Reckonings and Museums on the Brink