Venice 2024: art hijacked by narratives of untruth

This year I was lucky enough to visit Venice, one of the most romantic cities in the world (see Pasta, Wine + Jews: My Trip to Italy). I have come home with one question. Has art - art that is supposed to be for everyone - been hijacked? 

Every two years, we go to the Biennale Arte in Venice, Italy. It is a magical experience to be in that unique and delicious floating city whilst it is completely inundated with art. So much art. So much art I adore, some I don’t understand, often much I dislike, some I hate. That is what makes it so fabulous, there is something for everyone. To enlighten, to excite and to challenge.

The year’s theme is Stranieri Ovunque - Foreigners Everywhere, based on a concept that we will always encounter foreigners everywhere we go, and that we are all, in fact, foreigners ourselves. To put it in perspective, this art event is so huge, it takes over the entire city. The largest area, the Giardini, houses the permanent pavilions of 29 nations, including Australia and Israel.

Our lead-up to Venice is always fuelled with debate. My husband Danny and I argue over which restaurants we need to book, when we should book them and debate whether we really can do two pasta meals per day for six days. We need to argue over where we had THE BEST melanzane parmigiana, that most incredible veal cotoletta milanese or the unforgettable fiordilatte (the only flavour I truly love) gelato. 

The leadup to the actual Biennale is also fuelled with debate. This year, the Israeli and the Australian pavilions both generated controversy. 

Israel’s history with the Venice Biennale started in 1948 with the Erez Israel, Artisti Palestinesi pavilion, sponsored by Italian Jews. Two years later Israel opened its own permanent pavilion. In the 2024 lead-up, there were (unsurprisingly) calls for a boycott of the Israeli pavilion with an open letter from the Art Not Genocide Alliance (ANGA) stating “any work that officially represents the state of Israel is an endorsement of its genocidal policies” as well as an ongoing social media campaign. It appears ANGA was created specifically to target Israel’s “genocide” “apartheid” and “colonisation” in this year’s Biennale.

Italy’s culture minister labelled the calls as “shameful”: “The Venice Biennale will always be a space of freedom…and not a space of censorship and intolerance... Israel not only has the right to express its art, but it has the duty to bear witness of its people precisely at a time like this when it has been attacked in cold blood by merciless terrorists.”

At the time of writing, the Israeli pavilion had not opened. Israeli artist Ruth Patir installed her video art, but at the time this column was published, Israel had not opened its pavilion. A sign on the window reads: “The artist and curators of the Israel pavilion will open the exhibition when a ceasefire and hostage release agreement is reached.” The Biennale closes at the end of November. I fear that it will not open. Sadly, an ironic win for ANGA with Israel making a morally sound statement to the world.

The Australian pavilion was open, but should we have gone? First Nations’ artist Archie Moore’s Kith and Kin won the Golden Lion (like an Oscar). It is an inspired and inspiring installation, a monumental 65,000-year family tree drawn by hand with chalk on the walls and ceiling surrounding stacks of papers documenting deaths in custody. 

It was a challenging visit for me. Last year, the artist shared anti-Israel/anti-Zionist content which included lauding what Hamas terrorists did on October 7. His social media posts were (of course) removed once the media got hold of it. Should we have boycotted? Or just quietly not visit his installation?

Danny and I debated it at length. I am pleased to have seen Moore’s work but, at the end of the day, I am disappointed that an artist who is so committed to truth-telling for his people and their connection to their land was unable to acknowledge the truth about the Jewish people and our connection to our land. 

I was taken aback by their installation. I guess, in my naivete, I thought they might not want the world to see the truth that we all see, that Hamas is their proxy. I thought that maybe they would use this opportunity to show the Western world a different (and more palatable) side. 

Like Saudi Arabia has done. Giant almost-floor-to-ceiling rose petals (they looked like shmura matzot!) with music, words and illustrations representing voices of Saudi women. It was inspired by the evolving role of women and redefining the historical narratives that defined them. Saudi is moving forward, leaning into moderate Islam, eschewing the radical jihadi Islamists. Their breathtaking exhibition gives me hope for the whole Middle East. 

In case you’re wondering, Palestine does not have a national pavilion because Italy does not recognise Palestine as a sovereign state. Palestine Museum US instead proposed an exhibition of Palestinian artists; this was rejected by the Biennale as an official collateral event. The show went on as an unofficial collateral event. Of course, I was curiously drawn to it.

Sew Their Names was quite a beautiful work with pieces of fabric, each with a name, in the design and colours of the Palestinian flag, memorialising those killed in Gaza. I had no issue with the work on the wall but once I read more about Scottish artist Jane Frere and the biased narrative on which her art was based, I was not so enamoured.

We (so!) painfully watched a video entitled Palestine: A Tale of a Shredded Homeland, a video representation of the entire (and false) “story of colonisation”. All I will say here is that we were fully shouting at the screen. At least we got to write in the visitors’ book on our way out.

In the past, the Venice Biennale art had meaning (although I can’t say it always made sense to me). It was often a celebration, a joy, a sharing of something beautiful. It gave hope, it made me smile or cry or wonder or gasp. It made me want to share it on Instagram and urge everyone to visit.

Much of that was missing this year; there was pain and anger, hopelessness, victimhood and isolation. I don’t think this was just a reflection of the theme.

Australia also has its issues. An artist on the National Gallery of Australia Council shared his antisemitic, anti-Zionist thoughts on Israel/Gaza on social media. He has since resigned. I agree with the former Sydney Morning Herald art critic John McDonald, who said: “while most of the world seems to be willing to advertise their political views on these platforms, it’s a bit trickier when one is a member of the Council of a major government institution... If you agree to sit on the NGA Council, it’s really not a good idea to post [such] statements.”  

The recent appointment of the Sydney Biennale 2026 artistic director, whose stance on social media is strongly anti-Israel, is troubling. Political and social views that sow division and hate must be kept out of any public art spaces, particularly when government bodies (and in this case it is local, state and federal) are partners in the project.

Is this what art has become? A haven for cancel culture? A place to share rewrites of history and narratives of untruths? A place to share political views, no matter how divisive or inciting of hatred? Will we see the exclusion of an artist because of their identity (starting right now with Israeli or Jewish artists who refuse to protest the “genocide” in Gaza)? Will we start to see an erasure of culture? Will there be an inevitable shutting down of creativity, the loss of richness, depth and diversity? Will art no longer be an inclusive space for all?

I fear that art has indeed been hijacked. Perhaps it is time for artists and curators, art fairs and museums, to re-assess and reboot. We can only hope.