The Olympics of Art

The Venice Biennale 2026 - "a large scale, contemporary, international arts exhibition held every two years in Venice."

'Today' interview on 6 May

Sir Anish said, "Let me start by commending these five incredibly courageous women who form the jury of selection for the Biennale.  For having the courage to say 'We resign rather than consider these two countries, Israel and Russia for the prizes given out at the Biennale.  I am saying they should have included the USA because of their horrendous politics of hate and the ceaseless warmongering that gone on now for the last many months.  One of the things that is said in this or the unspoken vision here that these curators articulate is that culture matters.  That culture is a forum through which politics is influenced.  That is one of the great things, so that it is no longer just entertainment at the Bienale.  We are now talking some other serious question."

INTERVIEWER: Some say that Art should be separate from politics.

"Well, they are wrong.  It seems to me that many things that artists do is to try to articulate other agendas for our inner psychic consideration.  Empathy with those destroyed by war.  Empathy with the millions living in poverty.  The dispossesed and the hundreds of millions refugees in the world.  The environment ...  This is part of what these five courageous ladies are articulating."

INTERVIEWER: We have to reflect American culture.  We have to reshape culture to reflect Donald Trump's image.  An insistence that the US artists at the Bienale must reflect American values.

"Well there you go.  That is utterly disgusting and I will not mince my words.  What an utter shame that the artists they chose and the artists themselves - and I do not criticise the artists who tried to set aside from this - that the White House pushes its agenda in this cultural sphere.  It is absolutely horrid."

Sir Anish Mikhail Kapoor CBE RA (born 12 March 1954) is a British [2] sculptor