Verhoeven, who stood outside his roped-off pavilion alongside the 13 performers involved in his show, said he was inspired to strike by artists who protested over South Africa’s presence at the Biennale during the apartheid era.
“That started with a few artists and countries, who said, ‘No, this is not a place for apartheid,’” he said, “and this is what we’re trying to do now, to show to the Biennale this is not a neutral place as long as Israel’s having a pavilion.”
For the past month, a political furor has surrounded the Biennale, with artists objecting to Israel being part of the Biennale despite its military campaign in Gaza, as well as the return of Russia to the event for the first time since invading Ukraine in 2022.
Last month, the Biennale’s jury said it would not award prizes to artists from countries whose leaders are being investigated for war crimes, which excluded from consideration both the Israeli and Russian participants. Later, the jury resigned en masse after the artist representing Israel accused the jury of discrimination.
This week, the Biennale’s show grounds have been the site of protests over the Israeli and Russian pavilions.
On Wednesday morning, protesters led by Pussy Riot, the dissident Russian rock band, marched up to the Russia pavilion, carrying signs with messages like “Blood is Russia’s art” written on them.
On most days, dozens of artists have also staged regular pro-Palestinian demonstrations, including walking through the Biennale grounds wearing T-shirts with the names of Palestinian artists who were either killed in Gaza or whose work has been affected by the war there.
Zachary Small contributed reporting.