The Trump administration\u2019s new guidelines<\/a> for Biennale proposals say that the designs will be evaluated based on criteria including artists\u2019 \u201cability to showcase American exceptionalism.\u201d<\/p>\n Andres Serrano, \u201cDonald Trump\u201d (2004) and \u201cInfamous (Jeffrey Epstein)\u201d (2019)<\/p>\n Under the new stipulations, prospective artists wishing to represent the US in the event are prohibited from \u201cpromoting Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion\u201d and using award funds to support the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, which provides humanitarian aid to Palestinians. The Department of State\u2019s application mandates that Biennale programs assume a \u201cnon-political character.\u201d<\/p>\n When Hyperallergic asked Serrano if he believes his work complies with that criteria, he replied via a publicist, \u201cOf course, I\u2019m not political. I don\u2019t judge, I observe.\u201d<\/p>\n Serrano\u2019s pavilion proposal repurposes the name and objects of a 2019 Manhattan exhibition<\/a> that presented $200,000 worth of Trump relics amassed by the artist, including a diploma from the defunct Trump University, an 11-foot sign spelling \u201cEGO\u201d from the shuttered Trump Taj Mahal Casino in Atlantic City, autographed portraits, and presidential campaign signs. The proposal also includes Serrano\u2019s controversial film about the January 6 Capitol takeover, Insurrection (2022), which critics described as sensational, lacking context<\/a>, and even pro-Trump<\/a>.<\/p>\n In response to Hyperallergic\u2018s question about whether his pavilion design was meant to be ironic, Serrano said, \u201cMy work is always open to interpretation, even my ideas are open to interpretation. Artists are not one way or another, they represent different things to different people.\u201d<\/p>\n \t\tSerrano\u2019s controversial \u201cPiss Christ\u201d (1987)<\/p>\n In 2024, Trump was photographed grinning while holding Serrano\u2019s exhibition book and reportedly added it to his library at Mar-a-Lago. Serrano has described<\/a> Trump\u2019s apparent endorsement of the book as \u201ccomical,\u201d but has also stated<\/a> in the context of the president that he will \u201cnever speak ill of people who\u2019ve posed for [him].\u201d The photographer also took a smiling portrait of child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein in 2019, months before the financier was found dead in his jail cell awaiting trial for charges of trafficking dozens of minors in the early 2000s. His photographs have also portrayed Snoop Dog, hooded members of the Ku Klux Klan, and morgue corpses.<\/p>\n Serrano could have quietly submitted his proposal to the Department of State, but said he decided to publicly promote his mock-up pavilion with a specific goal.<\/p>\n \u201cI decided to publicize it because I\u2019m hoping the President will see it. It makes sense to me that for America\u2019s 250th Celebration, there\u2019s no one better to represent America than the President,\u201d Serrano told Hyperallergic in an email. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"New York City-born artist and provocateur Andres Serrano wants the United States Pavilion at the 2026 Venice Biennale…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":24024,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[13556,6225,6485,6486,1120,141,96,56,54,55,10991],"class_list":{"0":"post-24023","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arts-and-design","8":"tag-andres-serrano","9":"tag-arts","10":"tag-arts-and-design","11":"tag-artsanddesign","12":"tag-design","13":"tag-donald-trump","14":"tag-entertainment","15":"tag-uk","16":"tag-united-kingdom","17":"tag-unitedkingdom","18":"tag-venice-biennale"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24023","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24023"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24023\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24024"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24023"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24023"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24023"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Trump-1200x1457.jpg\")
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