Thomas Heatherwick / Russian pavilion Source:&nbsp Raquel Diniz/Shutterstock Heatherwick Studio is facing calls for a boycott over its use of the Russian pavilion for a public programme at the Venice Biennale The London-based design studio has announced a Humanise event at the previously closed pavilion tomorrow (10 May). It will be the first time the Russian building in Venice has been used for an architectural show since Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Michal Murawski, a Polish-born, London-based curator for Ukraine at the biennale told the AJ in an interview yesterday (8 May) that British architects and guests to the biennale should protest against Heatherwick, whom he labelled an ‘opportunist’. He argued: ‘I don't think Thomas Heatherwick is a representative of any broader current. He is an opportunist. He jumps on the opportunity to do an event in a fancy building and just takes it.’Advertisement The Ukraine curator continued: ‘But it’s deeply concerning. I am more concerned, in a way, by the fact that the biennale has reached this collaboration agreement with the Russian Federation. It is disturbing.’ Speaking yesterday at an event to unveil Ukraine’s own installation at the 2025 biennale, Murawski said visitors to Venice should avoid the Humanise event because of its location, which he described as ‘unacceptable’. The UCL-based academic qualified his views by saying: ‘I’m not a Ukrainian; I’m a foreigner who is an ally of Ukraine and a curator of the Ukrainian pavilion. But as curator of [this] pavilion, it makes me feel very uncomfortable that the biennale is collaborating with Russia in this way.’ Heatherwick Studio, replying to Instagram posts criticising the choice of venue, has denied involvement with the Russian Federation over the event and added: ‘Russia isn’t involved in the biennale.’ The studio added that the venue was ‘just the name of the Pavilion and has been for a hundred years’. And in a response to Murawski’s comments made at the Biennale, Heatherwick Studio founder Thomas Heatherwick told the AJ: ‘I am shocked and saddened by the comments made by Michal Murawski.Advertisement ‘Our event is part of the official educational programme of the Venice Biennale, all of which is hosted this year in the repurposed Russian Pavilion, now explicitly renamed the Biennale Educational Pavilion. This decision was made by the Biennale’s organisers as a logistical solution and has been transparently communicated in their official statement.’ He added: ‘Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, my studio withdrew from any projects in Russia. We stand firmly in solidarity with all those affected by the ongoing conflict.’ The event, How Do We Make the Outsides of Buildings Radically More Human?, is due to feature Heatherwick alongside panellists Davide Ruzzon, director of the NAAD Neuroscience programme, and a dozen post-graduate students studying at Milan Polytechnic. While the Russian pavilion is now hosting public events, Israel’s pavilion is closed this year because of the war in Gaza. Several structures are also undergoing refurbishment this year, with the 2025 architecture biennale featuring a first permanent Qatar pavilion designed by Linah Ghotmeh. In a statement published on its website, the biennale said the use of the Russian pavilion followed ‘a request from La Biennale and a collaboration agreement [with] the Russian Federation, [which] will make the Russian Pavilion in the Giardini available for the entire duration of the Biennale Architettura 2025. ‘This initiative provides an opportunity for co-operation and visibility for activities dedicated to universities, schools, families and the general public as part of La Biennale’s Educational program.’ Last year the pavilion was used by Bolivia during Venice’s art biennale. Murawski is an anthropologist of architecture and cities based at the School of Slavonic and East European Studies, UCL. Other curators of Ukraine’s temporary pavilion include Bogdana Kosmina and Kateryna Rusetska. The biennale organisers have been contacted for comment  on Murawski’s call for a boycot. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Heatherwick Studio (@officialheatherwickstudio) 2025-05-09 Gino Spocchia comment and share