'With the Russian Pavilion back at the Venice Biennale, art becomes a weapon of war'
- May 4
- 6 min read
Opinion piece published in *Le Monde* on 22 April 2026, under the title 'With the Russian Pavilion back at the Venice Biennale, art becomes a weapon of war'
While Russian missiles and bombs are striking Ukrainian cities daily, worrying about the imminent reopening of the Russian Pavilion – closed since the outbreak of the war in Ukraine – for the Venice Biennale, which opens on May 9, may seem trivial.
But this "detail" is far from minor. Slowly but surely, Russian influence networks have been regaining lost ground, and the Kremlin's narrative has begun to infiltrate public consciousness. "Art is above politics," says Mikhail Shvydkoy, the Kremlin's special envoy on international cultural cooperation.
In this case, art primarily serves as a pretext to continue the war by other means. It is a covert, invisible war aimed at reintegrating Russia into the ranks of respectable nations. Should we ignore the March 24 Russian airstrikes on the Bernardine Monastery district in Lviv, a UNESCO World Heritage Site? Should we disregard the looting of museums in Mariupol, Kherson, and Melitopol, whose works now appear in Russian museum catalogs as if they were Russian property?
Should we overlook the systematic plundering of archaeological sites in Crimea, where the diversity of peoples and languages that shaped Ukrainian identity over centuries was literally inscribed in the land? Should we ignore the forced Russification of the past at the Chersonese Taurica site, another UNESCO World Heritage Site? Apparently so, as long as Europeans can persist in their belief in the myth of the "great Russian culture" and turn a blind eye to the influence campaign Moscow is patiently waging.
Yet, for those willing to look more closely, the choice of Anastasia Karneeva as the Russian Pavilion's curator at the Biennale becomes revealing. Karneeva is the daughter of Nikolai Volobuev, a former FSB general and senior executive at Rostec, a state-owned defense conglomerate. She co-founded the company Smart Art with Ekaterina Vinokurova, the daughter of Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. It is clear that her ties to Russia's ruling elite, ensuring her loyalty to the Kremlin, determined her appointment far more than any expertise in the arts.
The Russian Pavilion's program speaks volumes. It encapsulates the principles of governance that President Vladimir Putin inherited from his Bolshevik predecessors: the promotion of falsehood, the distortion of language and the inversion of reality. By inviting artists linked to indigenous and regional cultures from across the Federation, the exhibition claims to align itself with the "decolonial" intellectual movement.
This appropriation of the language of decolonization is especially perverse. The histories of many of these people, like the Ukrainians, have been shaped by centuries of imperial rule under the Tsars and then by Soviet policies of forced assimilation, punitive wars and mass deportations. Today, regional activists and cultural figures defending the linguistic and cultural rights of minorities face growing repression.
The Russian Pavilion returns to Venice — funded by Europe, run by the Kremlin's inner circle.
The Biennale is "a space for truce," where art is said to transcend geopolitics, according to its president, Pietrangelo Buttafuoco, a former journalist and neo-fascist activist from the Italian Social Movement, appointed by Giorgia Meloni's government. In the rubble of Kharkiv and Kherson, the notion of apolitical Russian art is obscene. Each artist exhibited in this pavilion will, knowingly or not, bear responsibility for the crimes of the regime that invited them.
Despite the indignation expressed by culture ministers from 20 European Union countries [plus Ukraine and Norway] and their appeal to Italy's culture minister, as well as a warning from the European Commission threatening to cut its €2 million subsidy for the Biennale, Buttafuoco has so far refused to change his position.
We therefore expect the European Commission to immediately suspend its funding for the Biennale, as the reopening of the Russian Pavilion in Venice is undoubtedly part of the Kremlin's efforts to rehabilitate Moscow's image. We also expect European authorities to consider sanctioning Karneeva and her associate Vinokourova.
Signatories
Opinion piece by :
Ada Ackerman, art historian, research fellow at the French National Center for Scientific Research;
Konstantin Akinsha, art historian, curator of the exhibition "In the Eye of the Storm: Modernism in Ukraine, 1900-1930s";
Emmanuel Daoud, attorney at the Paris Bar;
Alain Fleischer, filmmaker, visual artist and writer, founder of the art school Le Fresnoy, National Studio of Contemporary Arts;
Sarah Moon, photographer, recipient of the 2025 Grand Prix of the Académie des beaux-arts;
Sylvie Rollet, professor emerita and president of the French NGO Pour l'Ukraine, pour leur liberté et la nôtre!;
Olga Sagaïdak, chair of the board of the Coalition des acteurs culturels ukrainiens;
Gabriel Sebbah, attorney at the Paris Bar;
Cécile Vaissié, professor of Russian, Soviet and post-Soviet studies.
Initial signatories :
David Abramovitz, Musician
Gaëtan Allin, Set Designer
Antoine Arjakovsky, PhD in History
Sarah Authesserre, Journalist
Esra Aykin, Author, Teacher, Global Citizen
Pierre Bayard, Professor Emeritus at the University of Paris 8
Philippe Bentley, Gallery Owner
Youry Bilak, Photographer
Jean-Loup Bourget, Professor Emeritus at the École normale supérieure
Pascale Bourret, Sociologist
Denis-Laurent Bouyer, Art Critic, Member of AICA
Michèle Bruni, Scientific Curator
Grégoire Cachemaille, Photographer
Christian Castagna, Chair of VoisinageS
Anne Carion, Publisher
Andriana Cavalletti, Visual Artist
Anne et Laurent Champs-Massart, Writers
Gilles Charignon, architect (ret.)
Giordana Charuty, Anthropologist
Julie Chaumette, Artist
Gilles Chevalier, Comptroller General of the Armed Forces (Retired)
Yan Ciret, Radio France Producer, Writer, Exhibition Curator
Marie-Laure Cittanova, Journalist
Denise-Anne Clavillier, Historian
Catherine Cléret, Professional in the performing arts
Marie Collins, Actress
Didier Coureau, Senior Lecturer in Film Studies, Université Grenoble Alpes
Dominique Crevecoeur, Filmmaker
Daniel Dahl, Musician
Vincent David, architect
Estelle Delavennat, Literary Translator (Ukrainian to French)
Bruno Demoulin, Professor Emeritus
Cécile Deniard, Literary Translator
Claire Denieul, Journalist, Author
Sébastien Denis, Lecturer at Paris 1
Anne Duruflé, Cultural Diplomat
Barbara Essaïan, Conservation and Restoration of Paintings
Jean-Louis Fournel, Lecturer at the University of Paris 8, member of the Veneto Institute of Sciences, Letters and Arts
Thomas Fontaine, Photographer and Artist
Michel Fournier, Theatre inspector
Eric Fraj, Singer
Benoît Frech, Stage Manager
Joël Fréminet, Retired Actor
Philippe Frison, Translator
Jean-Christophe Gadot, Musician
Laurent Garnier, Civil Servant
Denis Gasser, Performing Artist
Anne Gorouben, Visual Artist
Blanche Grinbaum Salgas, Honorary Chief Heritage Curator
Joanna Grudzinska, Filmmaker, Teacher
Jean-Yves Guérin, Lecturer in French literature at the Sorbonne Nouvelle University
Catherine Guibourg, Writer
Sergei Guliaev, Writer
Patrick Hassenteufel, University Professor of political science
Anne-Sylvie Homassel, Literary Translator
Bernard Jordan, Gallery Owner
Pascale Just, Director of Culture
Konstantin Kaiser, Writer and Editor of the magazine "Zwischenwelt International", which focuses on the culture of resistance, exile and the Enlightenment
Klara Kemp-Welch, Lecturer in Art History
Esko Kentrschynskyj, Former International Civil Servant at the UN and the EU
Marie Lavin, Historian
Jacques Larrieu, Professor Emeritus
Hervé Le Corre, Chairman of the Tous Azimuts Association
Alice Lecoq, Retired Heritage Curator
Jean-Paul Lefebvre, Human Rights Lawyer
Max Lyskam, Engineer & Author of spy novels
Christine Marquet de Vasselot, Writer
Vittoria Massimiani, Literary Translator and (more broadly) Publishing Professional; Creator and Producer of Italian and bilingual publications
Marie Matheron, Actress
Arthur Metz, Artist
Michel Morin, Retired Official of the European Commission
Wolfgang Müller, Professor, Vienna
Érika Nimis, Historian and Photographer
Alexis Nuselovici, professeur des universités émérite
Gérard Onesta, former Vice-President of the European Parliament
Soko Phay, Lecturer in Art History and Theory at the University of Paris 8
Béatrice Picon-Vallin, Performing Arts Historian, Writer
Catherine Pietri, Actress
Stéphane Poliakov, Theatre Director, Senior Lecturer in Theatre Studies
Alain Policar, Political Scientist
Muriel Pomponne, Journalist
Alain Rabatel, Professor Emeritus of Linguistics, Claude Bernard University, Lyon 1
Martine Robert, Filmmaker and Teacher
Yannis Roger, Art (Violinist and Photographer)
Anne-Solène Rolland, Director-General of the National Institute of Art History
Christope Rossignol, Chair of Liberty, Ecology, Fraternity
William Saade, Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters, Honorary Chief Curator of Heritage, Exhibition Curator, Artistic Advisor
Jonathan Sauvebois, Artist
Marianne Sébastien, Director of Voix Libres
Camille Simonet, retired curator
André Sirota, Professor Emeritus, University of Paris Nanterre
Galina Tomova, Book publisher, Creator
Charlotte Tourres, Chief Film Editor
Pascal Turlan, Strategic Director, Truth Hounds International
Henri Van Melle, Curator, Director of an art centre
Dominique Varma, Screenwriter, Novelist
Nadine Vasseur, Author
Balthazar Vatimbella, Macroeconomist
Nicolas Vatimbella, Writer
Marie-Françoise Verdun, Honorary Magistrate
Christine Villeneuve, Co-director of Editions des femmes – Antoinette Fouque
Emmanuel Wallon, Professor Emeritus of Political Sociology
Tristan Weddigen, Art Historian
Évelyne Winkler, Author
Yaroslav Gorbanevsky, Painter
Associations
Patrick Angelvy, Secretary-General of Pharmaciens Sans Frontières 94
Oleksandra Bertin, Chair of the association Ukraine Amitié
Sophie Bouchet-Petersen, Secretary-General of Ukraine CombArt
Tatiana Dehaye, Chair of the association Enfants de l'Ukraine
Charlotte Huijgen, France Coordinator, European Action for Ukraine
Wanda Kozyra, Chair ofDAR Artistes pour l'Ukraine
Pierre Le Foll, Solidarité Bretagne Ukraine
Florent Murer, Chair of the association Kalyna
Élisabeth Nicoli, Lawyer, Chair of theAlliance des femmes pour la démocratie
Jean-Pierre Pasternak, Chairman of the Union des Ukrainiens de France
Julien Profumo, Chair of the association Mouvement pour la défense européenne
Philippe Pumain, Architect
Marie Rebaud, Director ofUkraine CombArt
Association Tregor Solidarité Ukraine, Lannion
Jacky Vallet, Chairman of the association Images et Musiques Actuelles
Othar Zourabichvili, Chair Association Géorgienne en France
Citizens' signatures
List updated on 4th May 2026, 21:00, UTC +2
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