There’s quite a lot of memorable performance art in the Venice Biennale — Austria’s Florentina Holzinger rings a huge bell with herself as the clapper — but none quite so performative as the participants who are staging boycotts, no-shows and sulks to protest at the involvement in the show of Israel and Russia. The entire five-woman jury resigned nine days before the opening as a protest at the inclusion of countries being investigated by the International Criminal Court; the European Commission withdrew funding from the Biennale to express its revulsion at Russia’s involvement; 70 artists declared that because of Israel’s presence they did not wish to be considered for a prize; and some national pavilions are empty.
In other words, the point of the Biennale, which is to celebrate contemporary art in all its forms, is being sacrificed to virtue-signalling egocentricity. As it happens, I have a good deal of sympathy with the views of these people, but cancelling artists isn’t the way to go.
