ZAGREB, 7 May (Hina) – Croatian Culture and Media Minister Nina Obuljen Koržinek joined an EU member states’ boycott of the opening ceremony of the 61st Venice Biennale International Art Exhibition in protest at Russia’s participation.

In a joint statement, the participating countries reaffirmed their support for artistic freedom and freedom of expression, but warned that these freedoms must not be instrumentalised to conceal crimes or legitimise aggression.

The aggressor cannot be rewarded with participation in the world’s most prestigious cultural events, including the Venice Biennale, while continuing its brutal war and still failing to compensate for the damage caused by its internationally wrongful acts, the statement said, signed by EU culture ministers who supported the initiative and refused to attend the opening ceremony.

It added that the Venice Biennale had for decades demonstrated the power of art to transcend borders and affirm shared humanity, which it said was incompatible with the presence of a state that systematically destroys the culture, heritage and lives of an entire nation.

The signatories said they stood with Ukraine and its people, its artists and its future.

Obuljen Koržinek expressed regret that the Biennale management’s unprincipled move had shifted public attention away from the artists and artworks that should be at the centre of one of the world’s leading visual arts events.

Despite the boycott of the official opening ceremony, Croatia is participating in the Biennale with its own pavilion. On Friday, 8 May, Obuljen Koržinek will open the Croatian pavilion at UNESCO’s Palazzo Zorzi in Venice, featuring the site-specific installation “Compelled by Fright and Beauty” by prominent Croatian artist Dubravka Lošić.