00:01This performance is not part of the official program of the Venice Biennale.
00:06The feminist activist collective Pussy Riot is protesting the reopening of the Russian pavilion,
00:12absent from previous editions following Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
00:19They are not the only ones who see it as a form of propaganda aimed at whitewashing the war.
00:25The European Union is also opposed to this opening.
00:30The pavilion features a musical performance involving more than 50 musicians.
00:36To avoid sanctions, the artists will perform only during the press preview,
00:41and the piece will subsequently be screened outside the pavilion.
00:45Still, curator Anastasia Karnejeva is grateful the project was given space.
00:51I would like to thank the Biennale for endorsing the idea of having all countries represented here.
00:59The idea was fully supported by Biennale President Pietrangelo Buttifuoco.
01:04He says the foundation does not control the national pavilions and simply follows the law.
01:11If the Biennale were to start selecting passports instead of artworks,
01:19it would cease to be what it has always been, the place where the world comes together.
01:28But that position hasn't put an end to the debate.
01:33We should not tolerate the narrative that art is outside of politics,
01:38especially when we are talking about countries waging open war, like Russia with Ukraine.
01:44The installation at the Ukrainian pavilion follows the journey of the concrete sculpture Origami Deer,
01:51evacuated after the Russian offensive, 6,000 kilometers from the Donbas to Venice.
02:15The Russian pavilion is not the only focus of controversy.
02:22Artists participating in the main exhibition held a peaceful procession for their colleagues,
02:26killed in Gaza.
02:28Outside the Biennale, protests are taking place against the inclusion of the Israeli pavilion in the exhibition.
02:38Artist Belou Simeon Fayinarou, this year's representative at the Israeli pavilion, feels discriminated against.
02:46I aim for free protest.
02:50But I don't think it's a right protest that is based on boycott.
02:55Like boycott me as an artist, boycott me because I am a Jewish artist, that I have Israeli passport.
03:04I can say I have also a Romanian passport. I was not boycotted as Romanian.
03:10The artist represented the Romanian pavilion in 2019.
03:15With its national pavilions acting as official state-sponsored platforms showcasing contemporary art,
03:21the Venice Biennale is this year more than ever entangled in geopolitical tensions.
03:26It is important to reach for the future of their health.
03:26The years from America is a man who is a man who is a child.
03:26The leading father of the world but they necessarily is a man who's been a child.
03:27And us are if the children and the role of the world.
03:29You
