‘No death in Venice’: Israel-Gaza tensions infiltrate biennale

Protests erupt outside Israel pavilion, official Israeli artist pulls out, and Ukraine team puts up posters showing maps of nearest bomb shelter

Billionaires’ yachts and protests; cocktail parties and culture wars; bellinis and boycotts. The Venice Biennale’s opening preview days are always a place of odd clashes and juxtapositions, as artists, curators, critics, and wealthy collectors descend on the city to take in often politically radical art.

But this year’s edition vibrates with particular uncertainty and tension – even, perhaps, an end-of-days atmosphere. The biennale, which this year stages exhibitions from 88 national pavilions, has been touched by political currents that originate far beyond the lapping waters of the Venetian lagoon.