The 61st International Art Exhibition has welcomed the public with booming attendance figures. The contested Russian pavilion closed on the opening day, while illy’s latest Art Collection transformed coffee cups into works of art.
The Venice Art Biennale opened to the public on 9 May to exceptional demand. Some 10,000 visitors arrived on the first day, a 10% increase on 2024. Queues stretched up to half a kilometre at the Giardini entrance and around 200 metres at the Arsenale. The pre-opening days had already drawn 27,935 accredited professionals, up 4% on 2024, alongside 3,733 journalists, 70% of them from the international press.
The Russian Pavilion Closes
The edition’s most contentious moment came as the gates opened to the public: the Russian Pavilion shut. During the four-day vernissage, attended by Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini, who has backed Russia’s participation, three monitors on the glass facade displayed recorded performances from the pre-opening period. The pavilion will remain closed for the duration of the Biennale, running until 22 November, guarded by law enforcement. Outside, protesters from Ukrainian, Georgian, and Belarusian opposition groups gathered, along with radical groups, demonstrating against Russian participation and denouncing Biennale President Pietrangelo Buttafuoco and Salvini.
The controversy carries institutional weight. The EU has threatened to suspend its €2 million contribution to the Biennale, and the La Biennale Foundation has until 11 May to respond. The international jury resigned on 30 April over the inclusion of Russia and Israel, though both countries remain eligible for the new Visitor Lion Awards, open to ticket holders who have visited both venues.
The Austrian Pavilion triumphs
While controversy surrounded one pavilion, another drew the longest queues of the day. The Austrian Pavilion, curated by artist Florentina Holzinger, presents an hourly performance between noon and 6 p.m. in which a nude model climbs a rope to reach the interior of a golden bell, becoming a human clapper for almost five minutes during the tolling.
Buttafuoco, inaugurating the Pavilion of the Holy See, expressed his hope that Pope Leo XIV might address the word “peace” at the Biennale though a formal invitation would need to come from the Patriarch of Venice.
illy’s Art Collection: Coffee Cups as Canvas
Against this charged backdrop, illycaffè marked its role as main sponsor of the Biennale by presenting the new illy Art Collection at the café in the Giardini Reali. The collection, titled In Minor Keys in dialogue with curator Koyo Kouoh’s Biennale theme, features work by four internationally renowned artists from three generations and distinct cultural backgrounds: Alice Maher (Ireland), Werewere Liking (Cameroon), Thania Petersen (South Africa), and Mohammed Z. Rahman (Britain and Bangladesh). Each artist transformed the iconic espresso cup into a vehicle for storytelling, memory, and imagination, with four large installations — each in a distinct colour palette — displayed at the café entrance throughout the pre-opening period.
The launch was accompanied by a procession of oversized handcrafted cups along the Venetian canals, subsequently positioned at Riva Ca’ di Dio for public display until 10 May.
CEO Cristina Scocchia described the collection as a celebration of “art’s ability to enter everyday life, inspiring new emotions.” Buttafuoco called it “art stripped from museums and returned to everyday life — art that inhabits homes” and applies itself to the ritual of slowness and escape from noise.
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