Founded in 1895 and deeply shaped by Italian nationalism and fascist cultural policy in the 1930s, the Venice Biennale has long functioned as a geopolitical stage where nations perform soft power through art. Its architecture reflects this structure: the Giardini–a planned garden complex expanded under Italian fascism–houses permanent national pavilions that operate almost like cultural embassies, while countries without permanent buildings are typically forced to independently rent spaces across Venice. The Arsenale is the Biennale’s second central exhibition site: a former Venetian armory and weapons factory repurposed into a contemporary art venue. From May 6-8 2026, during the Biennale’s invitation-only preview days for VIPs and art world professionals, more than 30,000 artists, curators, collectors, critics, gallerists, and cultural workers descended upon Venice for what remains the contemporary art world’s most influential international exhibition.
Art Not Genocide Alliance (ANGA) was born out of a campaign that first took shape in 2024, through a public, open letter signed by over 24,000 cultural workers–one of the largest cultural petitions in recent history. That letter contributed to the closure of the Israeli pavilion at that time. And yet, even though the Israeli permanent pavilion in Giardini remained closed officially this year for “renovations,” the Biennale Foundation chose to host the Israeli representation directly inside the Arsenale itself, under heavy police protection. ANGA drafted a second letter requesting the exclusion of Israel from the 2026 Biennale, signed by more than 230 cultural workers, exhibiting artists, curators and representatives of national pavilions this year. That letter was delivered to the president and board of the Venice Biennale on March 29 and ANGA has yet to receive a response.
Faced with the institution’s continued silence, ANGA chose to disrupt the Biennale’s preview days. On May 6, ANGA organized a direct action at the Arsenale site that forced the Israeli pavilion to close for over two hours. On May 8, the campaign escalated into an unprecedented 24-hour cultural strike across the Biennale, during which 29 national pavilions joined the action through partial or full closures of their spaces, followed later that afternoon by a mass public demonstration that drew thousands of participants who marched from the Giardini venue to the Arsenale. The peaceful demonstration was attacked by riot police near the Arsenale’s entrance. The action drew from a long history of Biennale protests, stretching back to 1968, when artists and students disrupted the exhibition through occupations, boycotts and strikes in opposition to the institution’s “business as usual” alignment with state power.
The following text is a collective reflection by members of ANGA on how the historic strike was organized, and on the entanglement between Europe’s complicity in genocide, its push for military rearmament and the growing precarity of cultural labor.
The monumental strike of May 8 materialized through the collective decision-making of cultural workers. Protected by Italian labor laws, workers across the Biennale, including both national pavilions and collateral exhibitions were able to temporarily withdraw their participation from the Biennale’s artwashing campaign.
Fear and intimidation–driven by waves of institutional cancellations, systemic censorship, and defunding–has become the operative logic of mainstream art institutions after October 7. The Biennale is no different; the pavilions on view at Giardini, Arsenale, and all around the Venice Lagoon are made possible through complex capital networks. The stakeholders range from ministries of culture and state administrative bodies, to private investors and powerful, well-funded foundations–some of which have threatened the livelihood of those who have spoken up about Gaza.
