About a dozen pavilions at the Venice Biennale shut on Friday in protest over Israel's participation, with some closing for hours and others, including Austria's, remaining shut all day. The strike, organised by the Art Not Genocide Alliance (Anga), called for Israel to be barred due to its war in Gaza.
The Belgian, Dutch, Austrian, Japanese, Macedonian and Korean pavilions closed for the day. Others, including the British, Spanish, French, Egyptian, Finnish and Luxembourg entries, either closed and reopened or opened and closed early, often around 4pm. The British pavilion initially shut with a sign citing an Italian cultural workers' strike but later reopened after finding extra staff.
Some artists in the main exhibition, titled 'In Minor Keys', supported the strike by adding Palestinian references, such as hanging flags or displaying posters reading 'Palestine is the future of the world' and 'We stand with Palestine'. The Israeli pavilion was closed in the morning for a private event.
This year's Biennale has seen multiple protests. Earlier, the Russian pavilion was forced to close after a protest by Pussy Riot. The jury for the Golden Lion prizes resigned en masse, saying they would not consider entries from countries whose leaders face international arrest warrants, which would exclude Russia and Israel. The UK government also declined to send a minister to open the British pavilion due to Russia's inclusion.
