The Soviet response to the Biennial of Cultural Dissent in Venice, 1977

What is it about?

The proposed paper focuses on a crucial year in the diplomatic and cultural relations between the Soviet Union and Italy, the West-European country with the largest Communist Party. In 1977, Soviet authorities planned several commemorations of the 60th Anniversary of the October Revolution in major Italian cities, mostly governed by Communist mayors. The Venice Biennale, at that time headed by Socialist Carlo Ripa di Meana, announced, for the end of the same year, the “Biennale del dissenso culturale”, devoted to different expressions of underground culture from numerous socialist countries. As a first reaction, the Soviet Embassy in Rome made pressure on both the Italian Government and the Communist Party, in order to prevent that event, perceived as an evident manifestation of anti-Soviet feelings. The actions and counter-actions undertaken from both sides (Biennale and Moscow) raised an unprecedented national debate and an international affaire, resulting in a huge publicity to the Biennale’s enterprise, which finally opened on November 15, only a week after the celebrations of the October Revolution. Thanks to the support of the Venice establishment and local Communist intellectuals, Soviet authorities managed to organize, in record-time and in the iconic location of St Mark’s Square, the blockbuster shows “The Gold of the Scythians”, in collaboration with the Hermitage Museum, and “German classic and romantic painters in Italy”, with loans from museums of the German Democratic Republic. As ultimate response, the Soviet Ministry of Culture boycotted all the events organized by the Biennale for the following four years, reopening its national pavilion at Giardini only in 1982.

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Why is it important?

The article is based on press reviews and unpublished documents from Italian and Russian archives, such as the Biennale’s Historical Archive of Contemporary Arts (ASAC) in Venice, and the Russian State Archive of Literature and Art (RGALI) in Moscow. The text investigates the shift of the Soviet strategy from a self-celebrating intention to commemorate the October Revolution, to a defensive position, aimed at contrasting the notorious “Biennale del dissenso culturale” with historical and, apparently, un-ideological counter-shows.