Russia and Israel have been barred from winning the Venice Biennale’s top prizes after the exhibition’s jury moved to exclude countries whose leaders have been indicted by the International Criminal Court.
In a statement released Thursday, the jury said it decided to rule out awarding the Biennale’s Golden and Silver Lions, handed out at the exhibition’s closing in September, to national pavilions belonging to countries whose heads of state are facing ICC charges.
The unprecedented decision directly affects Russia and Israel. Russian President Vladimir Putin has been under an ICC arrest warrant since 2023 over war crimes following Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, while Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was charged in 2024 with war crimes and crimes against humanity linked to the Gaza conflict.
The jury said the move reflects a deliberate choice to take into account international legal proceedings when assessing national representations.
The Biennale Foundation responded by saying that the jury operates with “full autonomy and independence of judgment,” describing the move as a “natural expression of the freedom.”
The decision adds a new layer to an already heated political debate surrounding this year’s exhibition, putting the jury at odds with Biennale President Pietrangelo Buttafuoco, who had defended Russia’s return to its pavilion by arguing that the exhibition should remain “a space of truce” where art prevails over geopolitics.
