Venice Biennale’s Russian Pavilion and Pussy Riot Spar Over Usage of Protest Footage
ARTnews reports that the Russian Pavilion at the Venice Biennale sparked controversy after posting on Instagram that Pussy Riot had requested removal of footage featuring the collective from a documentary about the pavilion’s project. Pussy Riot responded publicly, mocking the post by noting that Instagram and Facebook were banned in Russia in 2022 after Meta was designated an “extremist organization,” and questioned how the pavilion was using the platform. Speaking to ARTnews, Pussy Riot member Nadya Tolokonnikova rejected the pavilion’s framing as an “honest dialogue about censorship,” citing the Russian government’s suppression of dissent and describing a power imbalance between an exiled activist group and a nation state. The disputed film appears to be digital documentation scheduled to screen outside the pavilion for the remainder of the Biennale, following a plan in which the pavilion opened only during the May 5–8 pre-opening vernissage for live performances tied to “The Tree Is Rooted in the Sky,” with recordings later shown on monitors in the building’s windows.
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