{"id":3461,"date":"2026-05-09T13:33:23","date_gmt":"2026-05-09T20:33:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/?p=3461"},"modified":"2026-05-09T14:43:14","modified_gmt":"2026-05-09T21:43:14","slug":"aj-chronicles-the-venice-biennale-blows-up-some-takeaways","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/2026\/05\/aj-chronicles-the-venice-biennale-blows-up-some-takeaways.html","title":{"rendered":"AJ Chronicles: The Venice Biennale Blows Up \u2014 Some Takeaways"},"content":{"rendered":"
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This week we collected 126 stories on ArtsJournal<\/a>. Here’s what I learned:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Venice Biennale, one of the visual arts world’s most important events, opened Saturday in complete disarray. The EU pulled its funding. Earlier in the week the jury resigned over which countries should be eligible<\/a>. The Golden Lion \u2014 the coveted grand prize \u2014 was scrapped for a people’s choice vote<\/a>. The US pavilion sits nearly empty<\/a> after the Trump administration declared it wanted work that “reflect and promote American values” (talk about your metaphors). Iran withdrew<\/a>. Anish Kapoor said the US should be banned outright<\/a>. Pussy Riot stormed the Russian pavilion<\/a> in pink balaclavas. Artists went on strike<\/a>. This is what happens when an institution of cultural authority can no longer agree on its own basic terms \u2014 who gets in, who decides, and what its prize actually means.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It’s a disaster. But only the latest and most visible version of an erosion of authority and relevance that’s been creeping up on the biggest culture prizes over the past several years. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Turner Prize, which once defined contemporary British art and made the YBAs household names earlier this century, has been steadily losing cultural relevance over the past decade. The Booker Prize still declares winners but operates inside a narrow literary register that excludes most of what people actually read. The Oscars now routinely award films almost no large audience saw, and the cultural conversation about movies has migrated to YouTube and TikTok. Movie star culture is fading and becoming more niche. The Grammys can crown winners whose music vast portions of the music-listening public have never heard, because contemporary music has fragmented into hundreds of genres and sub-communities, each with its own internal stars. The Emmys have become a footnote against the actual scale of what people watch. Book prizes never go anywhere near romance, the largest commercial fiction category in the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Culture awards of all kinds have been steadily losing their currency over the past decade. So what’s going on?<\/p>\n\n\n\n