Russia’s pavilion at Venice Biennale will be closed if it features propaganda, city’s mayor says

Venice mayor Luigi Brugnaro said on March 19 that Russia’s pavilion at the Venice Biennale would be closed if it engages in propaganda, while also arguing that Venice should remain a place for diplomacy and dialogue. The statement follows an announcement by Vladimir Putin’s cultural envoy Mikhail Shvydkoy on March 3 that Russia would participate with a musical program, marking its first Biennale appearance since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. The Biennale’s president, Pietrangelo Buttafuoco, and Italy’s culture minister, Alessandro Giuli, have clashed amid EU threats to pull funding if Russia participates; Giuli demanded documentation and raised concerns about sanctions compliance. The Biennale said no regulations were violated and sanctions were fully complied with, and Buttafuoco also described plans for a 2026 program commemorating the 50th anniversary of Carlo Ripa di Meana’s Biennale del Dissenso and a series devoted to Pavel Florensky, executed in 1937.

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