The European Commission has definitively canceled a \u20ac2 million grant for the Venice Biennale because Russia was allowed to participate in the exhibition, AFP reports. European Commission spokesperson Thomas Regnier said that \u201ccultural events financed by European taxpayers must uphold democratic values, open dialogue, diversity, and freedom of expression\u201d \u2014 principles which, he said, \u201care not being observed in today\u2019s Russia.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Biennale opened in May. Russia was allowed to take part for the first time since the invasion of Ukraine began in 2022. The decision was met with sharp criticism from Kyiv and EU leaders. Italy\u2019s government and the exhibition organizers were accused of violating the sanctions regime.<\/p>\n
Ukraine\u2019s culture minister, Tetiana Berezhna, compared allowing Russia to participate to \u201cinviting a serial killer to dinner with friends.\u201d The Biennale\u2019s international jury resigned in protest against the opening of the Russian pavilion.<\/p>\n
In the end, the European Commission gave the Italian side 30 days to justify its decision. The organizers denied violating EU rules and emphasized that the exhibition is based on the principles of \u201copenness, dialogue, and rejection of all forms of isolation or censorship.\u201d The Italian government said that the Biennale operates \u201centirely independently\u201d of Rome\u2019s position. The European Commission found these arguments unconvincing. The event organizers said they had expected the grant to be canceled and intended to \u201cdefend their rights in all instances.\u201d<\/p>\n
The EU\u2019s refusal to provide funding was an unprecedented case in the history of the Biennale \u2014 the world\u2019s largest contemporary art exhibition. Italy\u2019s Culture Ministry has already said it will seek alternative sources of funding. According to media reports, the grant accounted for a significant part of the Biennale\u2019s budget, and its loss could lead to a reduction in the scale of future exhibitions. The organizers maintained that the situation \u201cwill not have a significant impact\u201d on current and planned events.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The European Commission has definitively canceled a \u20ac2 million grant for the Venice Biennale because Russia was allowed to participate in the exhibition, AFP reports. European Commission spokesperson Thomas Regnier said that \u201ccultural events financed by European taxpayers must uphold democratic values, open dialogue, diversity, and freedom of expression\u201d \u2014 principles which, he said, \u201care […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5982,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[173],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5981","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\n