"Today, the artists of the German Pavilion and a number of the workers of the 56th Venice Biennial covered the Germania sign on the pavilion with a Greek flag and the word 'Germoney.' We show our solidarity with the people in Greece and all other places suffering from austerity.

As cultural workers and artists we demand an end to austerity for health, culture and education while public funding for banks and oligarchs seems unlimited," read statement released two days ago on Facebook by Hito Steyerl, one of the artists participating in German Pavillion at the Venice Biennale.

Steyerl continued listing signatories to the action, including artists Tobias Zielony, Olaf Nicolai, and Cairo-based artistic duo Philip Rizk and Jasmina Metwaly, alongside employees involved in this year's pavilion who are against the austerity measures Germany has demanded Greece accept as part of a Eurozone bailout deal.

Running 9 May to 22 November, the 56th Venice Biennale includes participants from over 50 countries.

The German Pavilion was curated by Florian Ebner, its concept explained as a "meditation on the material and political nature of images in the contemporary digital world," through the filmic and photographic works of Zielony, Steyerl and duo Metwaly/Rizk.