Episode 117: Venice Biennale - Is art becoming inseparable from politics?

This week on Culture Bites, hosts Enas Refaei and Farah Andrews discuss the Venice Biennale, exploring highlights from this year’s edition and the controversies surrounding the event. The 61st exhibition, titled In Minor Keys, brings together pavilions from around the world. The hosts put the spotlight on the UAE’s Washwasha exhibition, which explores sound, memory and identity, as well as regional contributions including Syria’s participation and an independent Palestinian exhibition featuring traditional tatreez embroidery. Enas and Farah also unpack the political tensions around the event, including backlash to a statement form jurors about excluding certain countries from prizes, which ultimately led to the jury’s resignation. The hosts talk about how cultural events are increasingly shaped by geopolitical debate. They later highlight a viral moment from HBO show Hacks, where actress Hannah Einbinder appears wearing the shirt of a Palestinian football club based in a refugee camp in the occupied West Bank. They discuss how this casual scene in the show reflects a wider shift in mainstream cultural representation of Palestine.