Exhibition preview·Venice
After Its Jury Quit, the Venice Biennale Lets Visitors Pick the Winners — and Nearly 100 Artists Opted Out
With its jury gone and its Golden Lions shelved, the 61st Venice Biennale has handed its prizes to a public vote closing on 22 November, but almost 100 participating artists have asked to be left out of the running.
The Venice Biennale is ending its 61st edition in a way no edition has ended before. Instead of the Golden and Silver Lions, the prizes that have crowned the exhibition for decades, this year's honours will be decided by the public. Two Visitors' Lions, one for the best national pavilion and one for the best artist in the late Koyo Kouoh's central exhibition "In Minor Keys", will go to the winners of a vote that closes when the Biennale shuts on 22 November. Only ticket holders who visited both the Giardini and the Arsenale are eligible to cast a ballot.
The public vote was a hurried substitute for a jury process that collapsed before the exhibition even opened. In the run-up to the spring opening, protests erupted over the participation of Russia and Israel. Then, on 30 April, just days before the opening week, the jury resigned as a body. Its members had said they would not consider for the major prizes any country facing charges of crimes against humanity before the International Criminal Court, a position that effectively excluded Russia and Israel, and they walked out rather than judge under the existing terms.
The replacement has not settled the dispute. Nearly 100 participating artists moved to withdraw their names from the visitors' prize, and some threatened legal action when they felt their wishes had been disregarded. The Biennale has since promised that votes for artists who asked to abstain will not be counted. Those who stepped aside include Alfredo Jaar, Nolan Oswald Dennis, Zoe Leonard, Tabita Rezaire, Laurie Anderson and Otobong Nkanga from the main exhibition, along with artists representing 39 countries.
Doubts remain about the vote itself. Some observers have raised concerns that a system tied to ticket records could be open to manipulation or state influence. With so many names removed, the field of eligible artists is far thinner than the exhibition that opened in May, leaving open the question of how much prestige a people's choice prize can carry when the people choosing it are voting in an exhibition its own jury refused to judge.
