Exhibitions
Anti-Israel protest at the Venice Art Biennale
Demonstrators on the grounds of the Art Biennale. photo
© Felix Hörhager/dpa
No time for art – A group of people protest against Israel at the Venice Art Biennale. They call for a boycott of Israeli art.
At the Art Biennale in In Venice, a group of people demonstrated against Israel in front of the closed Israel Pavilion.
The group then moved on to the USA pavilion and the German pavilion. The activists called for a boycott of Israeli art in Venice. Speakers described Israel as a “terrorist state” and a “totalitarian state” and also harshly criticized Germany. Representatives of the so-called Art Not Genocide Alliance (ANGA) also took part in the protest. They distributed flyers.
In light of the Gaza war, Israel is increasingly criticized internationally for its actions in the Gaza Strip. After the unprecedented massacre by the Islamist Hamas with more than 1,200 dead and kidnapped hostages, Israel responded with massive air strikes and a ground offensive.
Already at the end of February, calls were made by ANGA for Israel to be excluded from the art biennale in the northern Italian lagoon city. Israel’s exhibiting artist, Ruth Patir, and the curators decided on Tuesday not to open the pavilion as planned. They would open the exhibition once an agreement on a ceasefire in the Gaza war and the release of the hostages held was reached.