The art of wartime: Ukraine invades the Venice Biennale

The world’s most important art event this year is noticeably different from its predecessors

21 April 2022 - 19:43 By James Tarmy

Less than an hour after VIPs filed into Venice’s Giardini to view the opening of Venice’s 59th Art Biennale, a lone man in a dark overcoat unfurled a sign in front of an empty building normally used by Russia to show art. The sign read, in part: “I AM STANDING HERE IN FRONT OF THE RUSSIAN PAVILION AGAINST THE WAR AND AGAINST RUSSIAN GOVERNMENT CULTURAL TIES.”..

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