Director Alexander Sokurov will not perform at the Venice Biennale. he He said The agency said he was unable to fly to Venice “for reasons beyond his control.”
The press service of the Biennale confirmed the information regarding the cancellation of the show. She pointed out that Sokurov and the Palestinian activist and architect Souad Amiri, who specializes in preserving architectural heritage, will not participate in the biennial “due to their sudden absence.”
Journalists also asked Sokurov to comment on the protest in Venice (possibly in reference to the activist movements of Pussy Riot and Femen). “It’s all bitter, everything is difficult,” Sokurov wrote in response.
Sokurov was scheduled to speak at the “Opposition and Peace” conference.
The director mentioned in Open letter To the President of the Venice Biennale Pietrangelo Buttafuoco, written by Russian and Italian cultural figures and activists. They called the “opposition and peace” cycle of closed meetings a “tradition.” The message says:
What is on offer today seems like a mere farce: “dissent,” admitted through pre-selected and secure lists, and discussed behind closed doors in the form of a VIP cocktail party – while the voices of those for whom dissent is a matter of life and liberty are simply ignored.
<…> The selection of Alexander Sokurov as the symbolic voice of the “opposition” in the first of these closed-door meetings only exacerbates the problem. This is not a matter of personality, but a matter of principle: can opposition and dissent be represented by those who move safely between power and international recognition, while others end up in prison, exile or death for the same thing.
The letter was signed in particular by Pussy Riot member Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, artist Sasha Skochelenko, Oscar winner Pavel Talankin, artist and activist Katya Margulis, and gallery owner Marat Gelman.
Russia returned to the Venice Biennale for the first time since the start of the major war with Ukraine. The Russian pavilion at the exhibition will be open only to the professional public, including journalists and art critics, and for only three days – from May 6 to 8. On May 9, the day the Biennale opens its doors to the public, the Russian pavilion will be closed.
The biennale’s organizers have been criticized for months for allowing Russia to return to the exhibition. The Biennale jury excluded Russia from the list of nominees for the awards and then resigned. The European Commission described the opening of the Russian pavilion at the exhibition as a violation of the sanctions regime. She also sent a letter to the organizers of the exhibition, in which she promised to deprive the event of a European grant amounting to two million euros.
Alexander Sokurov remains in Russia and at the same time openly criticizes the Russian authorities. In particular, in December 2025, the director spoke at a meeting of the Human Rights Council, in which Vladimir Putin participated. Sokurov said that there are fewer budgetary places in Russian universities due to the fact that they are occupied by children of participants in the war with Ukraine. In addition, the director described it as insulting for people to be declared “foreign agents”, and also spoke about censorship in cinema and literature.