Venice Biennale Artists Threaten Legal Action Against Organizers For Disregarding Requests to Be Withdrawn from ‘Visitors’ Lions’ Awards
More than 100 artists have threatened legal action against the Venice Biennale Foundation, alleging it ignored their requests to be removed from consideration for newly created “Visitors’ Lion” awards, according to an announcement published on e-flux. A May 20 letter to Biennale president Pietrangelo Buttafuoco was signed by 67 artists in curator Koyo Kouoh’s main exhibition “In Minor Keys” (including Laurie Anderson, Alfredo Jaar, María Magdalena Campos-Pons, and Walid Raad) and 39 artists in national pavilions (including Britain’s Lubaina Himid and Austria’s Florentina Holzinger). After Kouoh died suddenly in May 2025, the Biennale’s jury—announced in April and led by Solange Oliveira Farkas—said it would not consider pavilions of countries charged with crimes against humanity, including Israel and Russia, then resigned en masse; the foundation responded by replacing Golden Lions with audience-voted Visitors’ Lions. The artists said that when the Biennale opened on May 14, 2026, visitors received ballots and emails inviting votes that still listed artists who had asked to withdraw, and they reported receiving no official reply to their May 20 letter amid protests focused on the Israel and Russia pavilions.
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This story was covered in Museum Shakeups, Biennale Backlash, and a Louvre Trail