Art Not Genocide Alliance says any work depicting Israel constitutes an “endorsement of its genocidal policies” in Gaza.
Thousands of artists, curators and museum directors have called for Israel to be excluded from this year’s Venice Art Biennale and accused the exhibition of “featuring a genocidal apartheid state.”
Israel faces growing international criticism, including in the art world, over its military offensive in the besieged Gaza Strip, which has killed tens of thousands of Palestinians since October 7.
The Art Not Genocide Alliance (ANGA) said the Biennale – a major international art exhibition – two years ago banned anyone linked to the Russian government following the invasion of Ukraine, but had not not taken action against Israel as it continues its war on Gaza.
“The Biennale has remained silent on the atrocities committed by Israel against the Palestinians. We are appalled by this double standard,” ANGA said in an online letter that had been signed by more than 12,500 people as of Tuesday.
He added that the Biennale had also previously banned South Africa under its system of apartheid and white minority rule and highlighted the fact that major human rights groups today consider the Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestinian land “a cruel system of apartheid and a crime against humanity.”
“Platform art depicting a state engaged in ongoing atrocities against Palestinians in Gaza is unacceptable,” the international collective of artists and cultural workers said.
He called “any official representation of Israel on the international cultural scene” and “any work that officially represents the State of Israel” as “support for its genocidal policies.”
Israel rejects any accusation that its actions constitute genocide. The International Court of Justice found it “plausible” that Israel would commit genocide in Gaza and ordered Israel to take all possible measures to prevent the genocide.
‘Ashamed’
Italy’s culture minister condemned ANGA’s letter, calling it “unacceptable” and “shameful,” saying it “threatens freedom of thought and creative expression.”
“Israel not only has the right to express its art, but has the duty to bear witness to its people in a moment like this, when they were struck by surprise by ruthless terrorists,” Gennaro Sangiuliano said in a statement.
The Palestinian group Hamas attacked southern Israel on October 7, killing at least 1,139 people, most of them civilians, according to an Tel Aviv Tribune tally based on official Israeli figures. Israel responded with relentless bombardment and a ground invasion of Gaza. More than 29,000 people were killed in the Israeli attack, most of them women and children, according to Palestinian health authorities.
Sangiuliano said the Biennale, which begins April 20, “will always be a space of freedom, encounter and dialogue, and not a space of censorship and intolerance.”
ANGA said: “Art does not occur in a vacuum (let alone in a “pocket”) and cannot transcend reality. »
“There is no freedom of expression for Palestinian poets, artists and writers murdered, silenced, imprisoned, tortured and prevented from traveling abroad or domestically by Israel. There is no freedom of expression in Palestinian theaters and literary festivals closed by Israel. There is no freedom of expression in Gaza’s museums, archives, publications, libraries, universities, schools and homes bombed and reduced to rubble by Israel. There is no freedom of expression in the war crime of cultural genocide,” he said.
Among the signatories of the appeal are the American director of the Palestine Museum, Faisal Saleh, the American activist photographer Nan Goldin and the British visual artist Jesse Darling, who won the Turner Prize last year.
Nicknamed the “Olympics of the art world,” the Biennale is one of the major events on the international art calendar. This year’s edition, “Foreigners Everywhere,” is expected to host pavilions from 90 countries between April 20 and November 24.