Artist Ruth Patir, who represents Israel at the Venice Biennale, and the exhibition's curators have decided to keep the doors to the Israel pavilion closed when the 60th Venice Biennale opens this week.
A sign was left on the door of the pavilion, located next to the US pavilion in the historic Giardini, stating that “the artist and curators of the Israeli pavilion will open the exhibition when a ceasefire and hostage release agreement is reached. ”
Patir, who was announced as the country's representative artist a month before Hamas' attack on Israel on October 7, made the decision together with the exhibition's curators, Tamar Margalit and Mira Lapidot, after weeks of appeals from pro-Palestinian activists to boycott the pavilion.
'We (Tamar, Mira and I) became news, not art. And if I am given such a remarkable opportunity, I want to make it count,” Patir said in a statement on Instagram. “I am firmly opposed to the cultural boycott, but as I feel there are no right answers and I can only do what I can with the space I have, I prefer to raise my voice with those who stand beside me in their cry: cease fire now , bring the people back from captivity. We can’t take it anymore.”
Visitors will only be able to glimpse the artist's work through the windows of the pavilion where her project “(M)otherland” is under lock and key.
Representatives for the Venice Biennale did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the closure.
Source: Artnet News