The Venice Biennale was disrupted on Friday as some of the major artists at this year\u2019s event shuttered their exhibitions in protest over Israel\u2019s continued participation in the art exhibition.<\/p>\n
When the event opened at 10 a.m., dozens of people flocked to Austria\u2019s pavilion, where Florentina Holzinger\u2019s performance \u201cSeaworld Venice,\u201d which includes numerous naked performance artists, had drawn hourslong lines all week<\/a>. They found the pavilion closed, with a sign outside saying \u201csome team members have decided to participate in the strike.\u201d<\/p>\n Some of the other buzziest exhibitions at this year\u2019s event, including those by artists representing Belgium, Egypt, Japan, the Netherlands and South Korea, were also shut. Signs outside some of those pavilions read, \u201cWe stand with Palestine.\u201d<\/p>\n Britain\u2019s exhibition was also shuttered, although a sign outside said that was because of a separate strike by Italian cultural workers.<\/p>\n The Biennale\u2019s main exhibition, \u201cIn Minor Keys,\u201d appeared to be open as usual.<\/p>\n The strike actions were the latest upheaval at this year\u2019s Biennale, the world\u2019s most important art exhibition, which dates to 1895 and features artists representing their countries in grand national pavilions alongside a major group show. The event, in its final day of previews, is scheduled to open to the public on Saturday and then run through Nov. 22.<\/p>\n For the past month, a political furor has surrounded the event, with artists objecting to Israel being part of the Biennale despite its military campaign in Gaza, as well as the return of Russia to the event<\/a> for the first time since invading Ukraine in 2022.<\/p>\n