In 2024, Art Not Genocide Alliance (ANGA) called for the exclusion of Israel from the Venice Biennale with an open letter to the cultural sector, which gathered 24,076 signatories. On April 17, 2024, hundreds of protestors gathered in the Giardini and on the Rialto Bridge in a direct action targeting the Israeli Pavilion and complicit nations.
ANGA’s campaign ensured there could be no business as usual at the Venice Biennale, and the artistic team of the Israeli Pavilion retreated and closed the pavilion as a direct consequence of widespread pressure and the collective campaign. ANGA also produced a guide to complicity and protest at the Venice Biennale, a street exhibition featuring works by thirteen Gazan artists and supported a parallel programme presenting Palestinian artists and voices across Venice, including the Palestinian Pavilion.
Artists are showing ANGA labels alongside their work in support of our campaign.
ANGA reiterates its demand to shut down the pavilion in its entirety.
ANGA’s campaign has ensured there can be no business as usual at the Venice Biennale while Israel commits genocide against Palestinians in Gaza. The artistic team of the Israeli Pavilion has retreated as a direct consequence of widespread pressure and our collective campaign.
The Genocide Pavilion has been forced to respond to 24,000 signatories who condemn the Israeli genocide against Palestinians in Gaza but, contrary to the artistic team’s claims, they have not withdrawn, the pavilion has not been closed.
ANGA does not applaud empty and opportunistic gestures timed for maximum press coverage, and leaving video works on view to the public, while Palestinians are killed by Israel every hour and millions face imminent famine.
ANGA calls for an end to the genocide being perpetrated by Israel against Palestinians in Gaza, an end to the apartheid and an end to the occupation of Palestine.
ANGA calls for all cultural workers of conscience to join us in these explicit demands. We refuse anything less.
Any official representation of the state of Israel on the international cultural stage is an endorsement of its policies and of the genocide in Gaza.
No window display.
Shut it down.
No death in Venice.
No business as usual.
A handy downloadable guide to boycotting the Genocide Pavilion, including information about the pavilion, the Venice Biennale’s complicity with genocide, a history of protest, Palestine in Venice, and how to stop genocidal art washing.
Open Guide →An exhibition throughout the streets of Venice celebrating and featuring works by Palestinian artists including Bayan Abu Nahla, Eltiqa Collective, Hadil Alsafadi, Halima Aziz, Hazem Harb, Heba Zagout, Khaled Hourani, Malak Mattar, Maram Ali, and Narmeen Hamadeh.
View Exhibition →No Words is a large painting documenting the harrowing events in the ongoing destruction of the Gaza Strip, in which over 30,000 Palestinians have been killed and thousands more injured to date.
Mattar is an artist known as the writer and illustrator of the bestselling children’s book Sitti’s Bird. Mattar is showing work with ANGA’s Palestinian Art in the Streets exhibition throughout Venice.
Responding to the theme of the 60th Venice Biennale, Foreigners in their Homeland underscores the plight of Palestinians living under Israeli occupation.
The exhibition includes works by 26 Palestinian artists and is organized by the Palestinian Museum US.
Curated by Jonathan Turner, this exhibition focuses on works produced by artists, collectives and allies in and around the southern West Bank in Palestine.
Organized by Artists + Allies x Hebron and presented in collaboration with Dar Jacir for Art and Research in Bethlehem. Selected as a Collateral Event of the 60th International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia.
This year, the Palestinian Pavilion at the Venice Biennale takes the form of a manifesto, presented as an A3 Xerox pamphlet.
The Palestinian Pavilion is organized by an anonymous group of artists and cultural practitioners from around the world.
Poetry for Palestine. A series of readings alongside the Biennale featuring words by Maya Abu Al Hayat, Fady Joudah, Hala Alyan, Edward Salem, Ghassan Khanafani, Mosab Abu Toha, Refaat Elareer, Mahmoud Darwish, Zaina Alsous, Etel Adnan, Eileen Myles, and many more.
Organized by Artists Against Apartheid, Bidoun, WAWOG, and the Kamel Lazaar Foundation.