Page 8 - The 61.Venice Biennial issue of WOA Contemporary Art magazine

Biennale Arte 2026 LA BIENNALE DI VENEZIA
61ST INTERNATIONAL ART EXHIBITION
IN MINOR KEYS

A COLLAPSE OF RELEVANCE:
WHERE IS THE ART?
POW BY PETRU RUSSU, FOUNDER & EDITOR OF WORLD OF
ART (WOA) CONTEMPORARY ART MAGAZINE (15 JUNE 2026)

I.THE COLLAPSE OF THE OLYMPIC STANDARD:
The Venice Biennale has long stood in the global
consciousness as the ultimate, unyielding stage for
contemporary art, a cultural seismograph meant to register
the deepest seismic shifts of human expression. For over URIEL ORLOW. REVERIES REVERIES OF COLLECTIVE WALKERS (READING TO PLANTS),
2022-ONGOING COLLECTIVE PERFORMANCE, TEXTS, PLANTS. DURATION VARIABLE.
a century, its labyrinthine pavilions in the Giardini and PHOTO BY MARCO ZORZANELLO. 61ST INTERNATIONAL ART EXHIBITION – LA
the monumental halls of the Arsenale functioned as the BIENNALE DI VENEZIA, IN MINOR KEYS. COURTESY LA BIENNALE DI VENEZIA.
"Olympic Games" of the visual arts, a place where history
was not merely recorded, but written, challenged, and of this institution and the superficiality of its present
reinvented. reality has become impossible to ignore. The pulse has
flatlined. The seismograph no longer registers aesthetic
Yet, as we navigate the recent editions and approach the breakthroughs; it merely tracks institutional inertia and
2026 iteration, the contrast between the historic weight bureaucratic box-ticking.
MARIA MAGDALENA CAMPOS-PONS & KAMAAL MALAK. WHISPERING IN LLL
MOVEMENTS, 2026 PERFORMANCE 30 MIN. PHOTO BY JACOPO SALVI. 61ST
INTERNATIONAL ART EXHIBITION – LA BIENNALE DI VENEZIA, IN MINOR KEYS. We must have the courage to speak with absolute candor:
COURTESY LA BIENNALE DI VENEZIA. the Venice Biennale is trapped in a profound, self-inflicted
crisis. A crisis of vision. A crisis of professionalism.
And, most dangerously, a catastrophic crisis of artistic
relevance.
As an active, experimental artist and as an editor who
has thoroughly reviewed, curated, and published over
8,000 artist profiles since founding World of Art (WOA) –
Contemporary Art Magazine in 1999, I refuse to remain a
passive observer to this decline. When the central curation
and national selections of the world’s most famous art
event consistently deliver a level of creative execution
so remarkably impoverished, it is time to demand an
accounting.
We are witnessing an alarming phenomenon where a vast
number of invited participants have absolutely nothing in
common with the rigorous discipline of art, nor do they
possess the intrinsic qualities that justify the title of "artist."
The contemporary art world has replaced aesthetic depth
with socio-political posture. It has traded mastery for
compliance.
It is time to strip away the historical romanticism that
shields this event from scrutiny. It is time to say out loud
what the global creative community is whispering in the
shadows: Stop calling this a Biennale.

6 WORLD of ART