More than 100 artists threaten legal action against Venice Biennale

Key Points:

• Over 100 artists participating in the Venice Biennale have accused organisers of ignoring their repeated requests to remove them from the visitor-voted Visitors' Lions awards and have threatened legal action.
• The artists, including Walid Raad and Laurie Anderson, criticized the Biennale for lacking transparency and accountability, calling it unfair to involve the public in a voting process where votes cannot be counted.
• The artists demanded written confirmation that their names would be removed from all contexts related to the Visitors' Lions awards and that any votes cast for them be disqualified.
• The Biennale responded that while the artists would remain listed to preserve visitors' freedom of expression, votes for those requesting withdrawal would not be counted, and noted it had received no further response from the artists.
• The dispute follows the resignation of the Biennale's five-member jury amid controversy over Israel and Russia's participation, with the jury previously announcing it would exclude artists from countries whose leaders faced arrest warrants for crimes against humanity.