"Two months before the opening of the 2024 Venice Biennale, a petition written by the Art Not Genocide Alliance (ANGA) and signed by thousands of artists and curators called for the exclusion of the "Genocide Pavilion" and claimed that it represented a state "engaged in ongoing atrocities against Palestinians." Large demonstrations accompanied the call, which echoed Palestine solidarity campaigns launched by artists at the 2015 Venice Biennale."
"Rather than engaging seriously with these demands, Ruth Patir, the artist representing Israel, sidestepped them: Along with curators Mira Lapidot and Tamar Margalit, she taped a sign on the door of the pavilion on the eve before the opening that read, "The artist and curators of the Israeli pavilion will open the exhibition when a ceasefire and hostage release agreement is reached.""
Since the full-scale genocide in Gaza began and galvanized global resistance, the Israeli pavilion at the Venice Biennale mobilized to art-wash the nation's brand. Two months before the 2024 opening, a petition by Art Not Genocide Alliance (ANGA), signed by thousands, called for exclusion of the 'Genocide Pavilion' and argued it represented a state engaged in ongoing atrocities against Palestinians. Large demonstrations echoed Palestine solidarity campaigns from 2015. Ruth Patir, representing Israel, taped a sign saying the exhibition would open only when a ceasefire and hostage release agreement was reached. The self-inflicted boycott performed morality while avoiding engagement with anti-Zionist Jewish and Palestinian voices and absolving responsibility.
Read at Hyperallergic
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]