Venice Biennale Artists Consider Legal Action Over Awards Inclusion

News / Moves and Awards Dozens of Artists Withdraw from Venice Biennale Awards Philippa Kelly

A group of artists taking part in this year’s Venice Biennale is considering legal action in an ongoing row about inclusion in the exhibition’s Visitors’ Lions awards.

In a statement released today (3 June 2026), artists, collectives and estates participating across the biennale’s central exhibition and national pavilions allege that, despite submitting a formal request to be withdrawn from awards consideration, their names have continued to appear on promotional materials for the prizes distributed by the Italian exhibition.

The statement shared a letter sent to La Biennale Foundation on 20 May, which read: “We were shocked to see that, despite our explicit request that we had withdrawn our names from consideration, an email went out on 14 May 2026 to ticketed visitors who had entered both the Giardini and the Arsenale, inviting them to vote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the names of artists from In Minor Keys and also those artists exhibiting in the national pavilions who have explicitly withdrawn their names from consideration.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.”

The statement confirmed that, as of today, the group has begun “next steps towards legal action”.

Peter Sit, curator of the Czech and Slovak pavilion and signatory of today’s statement, also described the situation as “disrespectful”. He told Ocula: “It revealed a great deal about the institution’s priorities, and artists certainly do not seem to be among them.

“The institution needs to change. It needs to be rebuilt…The current geopolitical situation clearly exposes the limitations of a system based on national representation on a platform such as the Venice Biennale.”

Asked why the artists chose to make the 20 May letter public, Sit said: “One reason was to encourage others to speak up about things that matter. Another was to show that there are many of us who care.

“Solidarity is essential if we want to overcome difficult times together.”

The Visitors’ Lions awards were introduced in April following the resignation of the jury for the traditional Golden Lion awards. The jury members’ departure followed an earlier statement confirming that they would not consider for the coveted prizes any countries whose leaders have been charged with crimes against humanity by the International Criminal Court, which was widely understood to refer to both Israel and Russia. 

However, the introduction of the visitor-based voting system, open to any ticket holder who has visited both the Arsenale and the Giardini, re-opened the prize to all countries on the biennale’s official list of participants. 

The 20 May letter also demanded the removal of artists names from all contexts involving the awards, and the cancellation of any votes already cast. The group say they received “no response or acknowledgement of receipt”. 

Today’s statement said: “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.”

As of 20 May, the artists, collectives and estates who had withdrawn prize consideration included 52 In Minor Keys participants and 16 national pavilion representatives. As of today, these figures had increased to 67 and 39 respectively. 

The biennale did not respond to Ocula’s request for comment. However, a spokesperson told The New York Times that the organisation had kept the artists’ names on the ballot to “guarantee all visitors their freedom of expression” when voting. They said that “any votes cast for artists or pavilions that signed the refusal will not be taken into consideration”.