Russia's return to the Venice Biennale has prompted another comeback - from performance art protesters Pussy Riot.
The country last participated in the event in 2022 but organizers confirmed its attendance earlier this week with a show called The Tree Is Rooted in the Sky involving at least 38 artists and musicians.
Russia has never been formally banned from Venice but has been absent since the invasion of Ukraine when the two artists scheduled to appear withdrew in protest. In 2024 it lent its pavilion to Bolivia.
Nadya Tolokonnikova, a founder member of Pussy Riot who left Russia after serving a prison sentence for a protest against Vladimir Putin in a Moscow cathedral, announced the protest.
She told independent Russian media group Sota News: "Pussy Riot is going to the Biennale with an alternative, protest statement so as not to burn with shame: we want to express unconditional support for Ukraine, the victims of Russian war crimes, Russian political prisoners, and Ukrainian captives."
The biennale, which runs from May 9 to November 22, will also feature a Ukrainian pavilion with work including Zhanna Kadyrova’s sculpture Origami Deer which was removed from its site in the city of Pokrovsk as Russian troops advanced on it.