Giuliano Ferrara's Scathing Critique of Biennale Arte's Political Turmoil

Giuliano Ferrara published a sharp analysis in Il Foglio on April 26, 2026, condemning the politicization of the Venice Biennale. He argues that socio-political pressures from Russia, Ukraine, Israel, and the USA have corrupted the exhibition's purpose, turning artists and curators into censors and arbiters. Ferrara criticizes the equivalence drawn between Israel's war (born from a pogrom and jihadist encirclement) and Russia's neo-imperial aggression, calling it a moral falsehood. He asserts that artists should create freely beyond censorship, not adopt the role of censors themselves. The Biennale, he claims, has become a vessel for vanity and the myth of art's salvific function, abandoning decency and beauty for propaganda. Ferrara's piece is a rare lucid intervention in the ongoing controversy.