Thousands of artists ask Venice Biennale to exclude Israel

ROME (Reuters) -Almost 9,000 people, including artists, curators and museum directors, have signed an online appeal calling for Israel to be excluded from this year’s Venice Biennale art fair and accusing the country of “genocide” in Gaza.

Israel has been facing mounting international criticism, including in the arts world, over its military offensive in the Palestinian enclave, which was triggered by an Oct. 7 attack by Hamas militants in southern Israel.

Hamas gunmen killed 1,200 people and took 253 hostage in the raids, according to Israeli tallies. Nearly 30,000 people have been killed and most of Gaza’s 2.3 million residents have been displaced during Israel’s offensive, Gaza health officials say.

Israel rejects any accusation that its actions amount to genocide.

“Any official representation of Israel on the international cultural stage is an endorsement of its policies and of the genocide in Gaza,” said the online statement by the Art Not Genocide Alliance (ANGA) collective.

ANGA said the Venice Biennale had previously banned South Africa over its apartheid policy of white minority rule, and excluded Russia after its 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

Italian Culture Minister Gennaro Sangiuliano said the appeal was an “unacceptable, as well as shameful … diktat of those who believe they are the custodians of truth, and with arrogance and hatred, think they can threaten freedom of thought and creative expression.”

He said in a statement that Israel “not only has the right to express its art, but also the duty to bear witness to its people” after being attacked by “merciless terrorists”.

The Venice Biennale press office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Signatories of the appeal include Palestine Museum U.S. director Faisal Saleh, activist U.S. photographer Nan Goldin and British visual artist Jesse Darling, who won last year’s Turner Prize.

Dubbed the “Olympics of the art world”, the Biennale is one of the main events in the international arts calendar. This year’s edition, “Foreigners Everywhere”, is due to host pavilions from 90 countries between April 20 and Nov. 24.

(Reporting by Alessandro Parodi, editing by Alvise Armellini, William Maclean and Timothy Heritage)