Inés Fontenla recounts Russia's 2024 Biennale pavilion handover to Bolivia

Argentine artist Inés Fontenla, invited by Bolivia to the 2024 Venice Biennale, describes how Russia ceded its pavilion to Bolivia amid strong economic and political ties. The curator was replaced by Bolivia's new Minister of Culture one month before the opening, leading Fontenla to question the event's independence from political interests. She realized Russia was using Bolivia as a front to re-enter the Biennale after its 2022 pavilion closure, following the resignation of its curator and artists in protest of the Ukraine invasion. Fontenla withdrew from the exhibition, refusing to be instrumentalized by a military power. She draws parallels to the 2026 Biennale, warning that the Russian pavilion is managed by oligarchs and that many Russian cultural figures oppose their government's policies.