Artists call out Venice Biennale for disregarding Their Requests to be withdrawn from “Visitors’ Lions” Awards
More than 100 artists are threatening legal action against the Biennale Foundation for ignoring their demands that the foundation withdraw their names from consideration for the “Visitors’ Lion” awards over the inclusion of national pavilions by Israel and Russia.
On May 20th, 2026 the letter below was sent to the Venice Biennale Foundation and its president Pietrangelo Buttafuoco. We have received neither a reply nor an acknowledgement of receipt. As such, we are now sharing this letter and the full names of its signatories with the press.
We view this lack of responsiveness as not only highly disrespectful of the undersigned participants in the Biennale, but also of the audience. It is unfair to ask the public to participate in a process that has lacked transparency and accountability, and it is a waste of their time to ask them to cast votes that cannot be counted.
Below is a timeline of events:
• April 22nd: La Biennale announces the members of Jury invited by Koyo Kouoh.
• April 23rd: The jury makes the decision to omit Pavilions under investigation by the ICC.
• April 30th: The jury is forced to withdraw because of the significant personal legal threat they now face. La Biennale offers no public or private support, only acknowledgement of receipt of resignation.
• April 30th: La Biennale publicly announces Visitors’ Lions Awards
• May 9th: On the first "public" day of La Biennale, fifty-two IMK artists (now numbering sixty-seven) and sixteen artists from National Pavilions (now totaling thirty-nine) write to the biennale and publicly announce their withdrawal from the Visitor Lions Awards in solidarity with the jury - no response from La Biennale as of today (June 3).
• May 14th: Ticketed visitors receive first "Visitor's Lion" ballots. Ballots include names of artists who had openly rejected being part of the Visitor Lion awards; still no response.
• May 20th: Second letter (see below) sent to La Biennale Foundation by artists (now numbering 67 IMK artists and 39 pavilions) citing opposition to La Biennale's attempted deflection of the Jury's resignation. This letter received no response or acknowledgement of receipt.
• June 3rd: Artists share information with press and begin next steps towards legal action
Letter sent on 20 May 2026 to La Biennale
Subject: Request for Immediate Removal from “Visitors’ Lions” award content and communications
Dear Venice Biennale Foundation,
On 9 May 2026, fifty-two artists artists, collectives and estates (now totalling sixty-seven) exhibiting in In Minor Keys, alongside sixteen artists from National Pavilions (now totalling thirty-nine) submitted a formal request to you that our names be withdrawn from consideration for the Visitors’ Lions awards. We did so in solidarity with the jury, appointed by Koyo Kouoh in accordance with Biennale protocol, and in defence of its right to deliberate and articulate the grounds of its decisions freely, in conscience, and without fear of retaliation. Our withdrawal is a refusal to participate in a process in which the jury was left exposed to significant personal legal liability, when it was the responsibility of La Biennale to guarantee the independence and integrity of the jury’s deliberations. To be clear: We have no issue with the concept of allowing visitors to vote for awards. But to create Visitors’ Lions Awards at this stage is a deflection from the jury's resignation, and in direct contradiction to the process we all agreed to when we accepted the invitation to exhibit our work. This is something we want no part of.
We were shocked to see that, despite our explicit request that we had withdrawn our names from consideration, an email went out on May 14, 2026 to ticketed visitors who had entered both the Giardini and the Arsenale, inviting them to vote on the Visitors’ Lions awards. The list of choices included the names of artists from In Minor Keys and also those artists exhibiting in the national pavilions who have explicitly withdrawn their names from consideration. Not only is this confusing for visitors, it is blatantly disrespectful towards the artists who have made the request for removal of their names.
Our demand, therefore, is as follows: any name that appears as a signatory of this letter must be removed from any and all contexts involving the Visitors’ Lions awards, including but not limited to the ballot interface and any associated promotional or communications materials. If any votes have already been cast for a signatory of this letter, that vote must be disqualified.
We request confirmation in writing, as you have done in previous communications, that you have received this letter and that you will immediately accommodate this change to your website and all future communications around the Visitors’ Lions awards.
Respectfully,
Signatories
Full List of Signatories as at 3 June 2026
In Minor Keys Artists
Pio Abad
Fabric Aragno
arms ache avid aeon
Sammy Baloji
Éric Baudelaire
Sabian Baumann
Nancy Brooks Brody Estate
BuBu de la madeleine
Carolina Caycedo
Annalee Davis
Bonnie Devine
Nolan Oswald Dennis
rana elnemr
Joy Episalla
Rachel Fallon
Sofía Gallisá Muriente
Joana Hadjithomas & Khalil Joreige
Sohrab Hura
Mohammed Joha
fierce pussy
Alfredo Jaar
Michael Joo
Nina Katchadourian
Guadalupe Maravilla
Natalia Lassalle Morillo
Florence Lazar
Zoe Leonard
Alice Maher
lugar a dudas (Ericka Florez, Sahara Rosero, Marcela Muñoz,María del Mar Nuñez, Sally Mizrachi)
Avi Mograbi & Avital Barak
Tuan Andrew Nguyen
Otobong Nkanga
Hagar Ophir
Uriel Orlow
Thania Petersen
Alan Phelan
Walid Raad
Mohammed Z. Rahman
Tabita Rezaire
Guadalupe Rosales
Yo-E Ryou
Rose Salane
Carrie Schneider
Hala Schoukair
Berni Searle
Yoshiko Shimada
Himali Singh Soin and David Soin Tappeser
Cauleen Smith
Vera Tamari
Jo-ey Tang
Carrie Yamaoka
Raed Yassin
Laurie Anderson
Leonard Pongo
Theo Eshetu
Alexa Kumiko Hatanaka
Philip Aguirre
María Magdalena Campos-Pons
Kamaal Malak
Denniston Hill
Kemang Wa Lehulere
Buhlebezwe Siwani
Eustáquio Neves
Artists from National Pavilions
Belgium
Miet Warlop, Artist & Caroline Dumalin, Curator & Team
Luxembourg
Aline Bouvy & Stilbé Schroeder
France
Yto Barrada
Slovenia
Nonument Group (Neja Tomšič, Martin Bricelj Baraga, Nika Grabar, Miloš Kosec)
Nataša Petrešin-Bachelez, curator
Latvia
MAREUNROL’S, Bruno Birmanis & Team
Lithuania
Egle Budvytyte, Artist and Louise O’Kelly, Curator & Team
Switzerland
Gianmaria Andreetta, Luca Beeler, Miriam Laura Leonardi, Lithic Alliance, Yul Tomatala, Nina Wakeford
Spain
Artist: Oriol Vilanova
Curator: Carles Guerra & team
The Netherlands
Dries Verhoeven, Artist & Rieke Vos, Curator
Poland
Bogna Burska & Daniel Kotowski, artists
Ewa Chomicka & Jolanta Woszczenko, curators
Portugal
Alexandre Estrela, Artist, Ana Baliza, Curator
Ecuador
Tawna Collective (Sani Montahuano, Mukutsawa Montahuano, Lucia Ferre, Enoc Merino, Boloh Miranda & Tatiana Lopez)
Ireland
Isabel Nolan, Artist; Georgina Jackson, Curator; Cian O’Brien, Producer
Kosovo
Brilant Milazimi
Finland
Juha Huuskonen, Commissioner
Jenna Sutela, Artist
Curator and Team
Czech and Slovak Pavilion
Artists: Jakub Jansa, Selmeci Kocka Jusko
Curator: Peter Sit
Cyprus
Marina Xenofontos
Albania
Genti Korini
United Arab Emirates
Farah Al Qasimi
Türkiye
Artist: Nilbar Güreş
Curator: Başak Doğa Temür
Grenada
Group Show
Commissioner, Susan Mains
Iceland
Artist: Ásta Fanney Sigurðardóttir
Commissioner, Cecilie Gaihede, Icelandic Art Center
Moldova
Artist: Pavel Brăila
Curator: Adelina Luft
Estonia
Artist: Merike Estna
Curator: Natalia Sielewicz & team
Ukraine
Artist: Zhanna Kadyrova
Curators: Ksenia Malykh, Leonid Marushchak & curators of public programme: Katia Khimei, Ivanna Kozachenko
Croatia
Artist: Dubravka Lošić
Curator: Branko Franceschi
Commissioner: Ministry of Culture and Media
Italy
Chiara Camoni & studio team
Austria
Florentina Holzinger, Artist & Team
San Marino
Mark Francis
Nordic Countries
Benjamin Orlow, Klara Kristalova, Tori Wrånes (artists)
Anna Mustonen (curator) & Team
Denmark
Maja Malou Lyse, DIS, Chus Martínez, Commons Accounts
Britain
Lubaina Himid
Chile
Norton Maza
Bulgaria
Martina Yordanova (curator) and artists Veneta Androva, Gery Georgieva, Maria Nalbantova, Rayna Teneva and the whole team
Philippines
Artist: Jon Cuyson
Curator: Mara Gladstone
Romania
Artists: Anca Benera & Arnold Estefán
Curators: Corina Oprea, Diana Marincu & Team
Mexico
RojoNegro (Noé Martínez y María Sosa)
Malta
Artists: Raphael Vella, Charlie Cauchi, Adrian Abela
Curator: Margerita Pulè
Aotearoa New Zealand
Fiona Pardington & Team