The artistic team of the Spanish pavilion at the Venice Art Biennale closes due to a strike and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs forces them to reopen

VeniceThe protest called by the Art Not Genocide Alliance (ANGA) against Israel's presence at the Venice Art Biennale has had consequences. The Giardini venue opened its doors at 10 in the morning with many pavilions closed, including those of Belgium, the Netherlands, Austria, and Japan. The situation of the Spanish pavilion, on the other hand, has been bizarre: it started the day open, but closed at two in the afternoon "due to the artistic team's strike." A quarter of an hour later, sources from the pavilion stated that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs had communicated that they had been forced to reopen, and immediately afterwards that they were closing until 3 p.m., while "conversations were ongoing with the Minister of Foreign Affairs," a portfolio from which the pavilion depends. Finally, the pavilion reopened at 3 p.m.

The morning at the Spanish pavilion has been eventful. While the artist, Oriol Vilanova, and the curator, Carles Guerra, and other team members expressed their desire to close, the Spanish ambassador to Italy, Miguel Ángel Fernández-Palacios, was on the phone with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to finalize whether they would remain open or close. The Spanish pavilion is managed by the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (AECID), which depends on the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, not the Ministry of Culture. After the artistic team had closed due to the strike, one of the coordinators, as ARA has learned, warned them that they could not close "unilaterally" and "violently" tore down the strike announcement that was on the door. Guerra and Vilanova are among the more than 200 people who have signed a letter from ANGA against Israel's presence addressed to the President of the Biennale, Pietrangelo Buttafuoco, who has not replied.

The list of countries that have gone on strike, totally or partially, is very long. A list provided by ANGA also includes Egypt, Lebanon, Slovenia, Turkey, Luxembourg, Poland, Ecuador, Malta, Portugal, and Ireland and Iceland. As for Catalonia, they have adhered to the possibility of closing for a two-hour period, from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m.

Many pavilions have gone on strike, but the public has not. The Giardini and the Arsenale are full. During the hours the Spanish pavilion has been open, it has not stopped receiving visitors. As an anecdote, and coinciding with the inauguration, the Spanish delegation had the ivy that covered the country's name on the facade pruned. Curiously, Spain, due to its complicity with Fascist Italy when the pavilion was built in 1922, is the only one that does not have its name translated into Italian.

On the other hand, ANGA has called a demonstration at the entrance of the Giardini at half-past four in the afternoon. In addition to the presence of Israel, they are also protesting to improve the conditions of "structural precariousness" for artists, curators, and cultural workers of the Art Biennale.