In Venice, global alliances unfurl and national borders are ratified. There are also rare convergences of bourgeois art-loving tourists and insiders LARPing as art professionals who are, in reality, visiting the island for spritzes and a quasi-holiday (i.e., me). By the very structure of the Biennale’s national pavilions and the central exhibition, we’re given a rare opportunity to see soft, cultural diplomacy and geopolitics play out in real time. This year’s iteration saw the 2022 Biennale’s director Cecilia Alemani and Roberto Cicutto, President of La Biennale di Venezia, both put forward their support for war-ravaged Ukraine and condemning Russia’s actions throughout the exhibition’s printed collateral. Russia’s pavilion lies dormant with the curator and artists resigning from their posts prior to the biennale’s opening—a mark of solidarity with Ukraine.