Italian Culture Minister Alessandro Giuli stated that the Venice Biennale could have helped secure the return of Ukrainian children abducted by Russia.
He said this in Rome in an interview with Sky Tg24 Live, according to ANSA.
“If we had known the circumstances of this issue from the very beginning, we could have brought it into ceasefire negotiations and perhaps achieved something like the release of children abducted by Russia from Ukraine. That will not happen, so I hope we can leave all this behind and return to talking about art in wonderful Venice,” Giuli said.
Commenting on what he described as a missed opportunity for the Venice Biennale, the head of Italy’s Ministry of Culture said that instead of discussing art, people are forced to talk about “Putin’s Russia.”
“We should be talking about art, but instead we are talking about the art of the regime, about Putin’s Russia, which returned to Venice after four years thanks to an agreement made behind the government’s back. We do not agree with this, but the Biennale is autonomous,” Giuli noted.
As previously reported, the international jury of the Venice Biennale, one of the world’s leading contemporary art exhibitions, resigned amid controversy over Russia’s return to the event.
Because of Russia’s participation in this year’s Venice Biennale, the European Commission decided to suspend funding for the festival’s organizing foundation, having previously warned it about the consequences.
European Commissioner for Youth, Culture and Sport Glenn Micallef also stated that he would not attend the Venice Biennale because the organizers allowed the Russian pavilion to reopen and invited representatives of the Russian authorities.
Earlier, it was reported that Alessandro Giuli would not take part in the opening of the 61st Venice Biennale in protest against the Russian pavilion at the event.
