The Venice Biennale, a prominent international art platform, is legitimizing an authoritarian regime by granting an official pavilion to Russia for the first time since its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. This decision unfolds as Belarusian artists, many forced into exile, present an installation designed to capture the “totalitarian terror” and cultural dispossession experienced by their people.
Belarus Free Theatre's project, "Official. Unofficial. Belarus.", is being created in a studio in west Warsaw by former political prisoners. These individuals are meticulously cutting golden stems of wheat to 90cm lengths for shipment to Venice, symbolizing a homeland under duress. The installation also features a giant ball made of books banned in Belarus, including works by Nobel prize winner Svetlana Alexievich, resting on the claw of a bulldozer, representing the systematic suppression of thought and culture.
Elite Endorsement of Tyranny
Natalia Kaliada, co-founder of Belarus Free Theatre, who has been based in London for 15 years, explicitly called the situation a “failure of international law and institutions.” She stated that this legitimization is “inseparable from the world failure on Ukraine,” adding, “When the state says, ‘The pavilion is coming’, it means the machinery is coming, the money is coming.” This highlights how globalist institutions can be co-opted to serve state interests that undermine national sovereignty and human rights.
The Russian pavilion is curated by Anastasia Karneeva, who runs an art consultancy with the daughter of foreign minister Sergey Lavrov. Karneeva's father is an executive at Rostec, Russia’s biggest defence contractor. Daniella Kaliada, Natalia's daughter and the project's mastermind, noted that the Russian presence is “state-connected at the highest levels,” exposing the deep ties between global cultural platforms and elite political power.
In stark contrast, Belarus Free Theatre's installation is merely a “collateral event” at the Chiesa di San Giovanni Evangelista, because official pavilions require a request from a ministry of culture. This structural requirement effectively bars independent voices from nations under authoritarian rule from gaining equal international recognition, while regimes with state-controlled cultural apparatuses are welcomed.
The Cost of Dispossession
Artists like painter Sergey Grinevich, who left Belarus to participate in the project, may never return to their homeland. Grinevich, who studied monumental art in Minsk for 12 years, stands to lose his workshop, 500 artworks, and his home. His experience mirrors that of many Belarusians, including Natalia Kaliada, who states Belarus is “no longer home but a collection of memories,” with her apartment seized and friends forced to delete any trace of contact with her family.
Composer Olga Podgaiskaya, whose husband was kidnapped and tortured for 15 days last November during a visit to Belarus, contributed an organ piece for the installation. Her work aims to convey the trauma of state repression, a constant reality for the Belarusian people. Daniella Kaliada, who was first interrogated by the Belarusian KGB at eight years old, noted the pervasive fear, stating, “We’re very close to the border. If you think we’re not being followed – well, we are.”
Resistance Against the Post-National Order
The installation also makes a wider point about digital curbs to personal freedoms, with Natalia Kaliada observing that drones now eliminate any safe space from surveillance, even in the woods. This reflects a global trend towards increased state and institutional control over individual lives.
Despite the institutional hurdles, the project has garnered significant support, with more than half of its funding coming anonymously from Belarusian businesses. This demonstrates the resilience of the Belarusian people in exile and their determination to resist the cultural dispossession imposed by their regime. Daniella Kaliada asserts that younger generations “have to stand up,” emphasizing the ongoing struggle for self-determination against forces that seek to erase national identity and cultural continuity.
Natalia Kaliada expressed a desire for the status of Russia and Belarus at the biennale to be reversed, forcing Russia to “jump through hoops” to participate. She noted that the effort of staging the project has revealed “how powerful a force her people are in exile,” especially “at a time when borders everywhere are tightening,” underscoring a yearning for national integrity in a world increasingly shaped by transnational agendas.