First there was the Russian aggression against Ukraine, now there is the Palestinian question and, still unresolved, the issue of the repression of the women's revolt in Iran, of dissident and independent artists and, in any case, of all the "persecuted Iranian people".
The Venice Biennale returns to being the "stage" from which the international artistic community launches its social battles and takes sides, taking a stand on conflicts and authoritarian regimes.
But the institution responds to all of them by exhibiting a now tested protocol of international diplomacy: all the countries "recognised" by Italy can "in total autonomy request to participate" and the Biennale "cannot take into consideration any petition or request to exclude " attendance.
In the specific case of yesterday and today that of "Israel or Iran".
However, the cultural institution announces that Russia will not be present this year either, while Palestinian artists will be present in a Collateral Events project, chosen at the sole discretion of the curator Adriano Pedrosa.
Furthermore, Palestinian artists will also be present in the 60th International Exhibition, as shown in the list of participants released by the Biennale on 31 January 2024.
The calls by artistic communities to exclude artists from contested nations have been repeated in all the most recent editions and configurations of events organized by the cultural organisation.
It also happened at the last Cinema Biennale, at the 2022 Art Biennale, last year at the Architecture Biennale and this year, again, in anticipation of the new edition of the 2024 Art Biennale.
Where to end up in the crosshairs of thousands of artists, institutions and cultural bodies, it was Israel first: "No to the Genocide Pavilion at the Biennale" supported 8 thousand signatories of an appeal addressed to the Biennale Foundation.
Then it was Iran's turn, almost in retaliation.
Woman Life Freedom Europe and Woman Life Freedom Italy asked today to exclude the Islamic Republic of Iran from the exhibition to give a "strong and clear signal" to the international community, without becoming "accomplice of a criminal and bloody government".
The appeal, already anticipated in October, reminds the institutions - not only those in charge of the Biennale but also Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and the ministers - that the Italian government, "like many other countries and democratic institutions, has distanced itself and avoided government meetings with the Iranian regime or any of their official participation in Italy."
And he asks: "Why does an important institution like the Venice Biennale lend itself to legitimizing the delegation of a theoretical dictatorial regime that has been censoring all artistic expression for 45 years?".
This request too, after the one aimed at excluding Israel was rejected by the Minister of Culture, is signed by artists and intellectuals, Italian but also Iranian.
It was signed by the Iranian artist Shirin Neshat, the director Marjane Satrapi, the lawyer Shirin Ebadi - Nobel Peace Prize winner in 2003 - and, among many others, the directors Marco Bellocchio and Nanni Moretti, the artists Joseph Kosuth and Alberto Biasi and musicians, including Paolo Fresu, directors such as Francesca Archibugi, Daniele Luchetti, Paolo Virzì, screenwriters and writers.
"Now more than ever - say the signatories of the appeal - it is necessary to take a clear and clear position against the regime of the Islamic Republic of Iran, with those who have blood on their hands".
But there's nothing to be done: whether to participate or not is decided "autonomously" by the individual nations recognized by Italy, so much so that the very exclusion of Russia from the 2022 exhibition, the Biennale recalls, was decided by the Commissioner and the Curator appointed by the Minister of Culture of the Russian Federation, who has announced that he will not even participate in the next edition
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