The Venice Biennale 2026 is planning to set up an alternative 230 sqm pavilion for Israel inside the historic Arsenale.
Israel will not open its National Pavilion at the Gardens, which had been at the center of the protests in 2024 (it never opened in 2024), but instead it is offered space in the Arsenale provided by the Biennale Foundation.
Artists and curators are threatening a boycott of the 61st Venice Biennale, due to open on May 9, 2026, over its “complicit invitation” of Israel.
In an open letter sent to Biennale organizers today, October 2, Art Not Genocide Alliance (ANGA) condemns this complicit invitation. "We demand that the Biennale withdraws any offer to platform a genocidal state. At a time when Israel continues to escalate its genocide with the destruction and ground invasion of Gaza City, following months of enforced famine, the Biennale should be ashamed to be in dialogue with the cultural representatives of the Israeli occupation."
Main Image: Protests during the 2024 Biennale, Image taken from ANGA IG Page