Russia will not participate in the Venice Biennale for the second consecutive edition since the country launched its attack on Ukraine in February 2022.
This year's 60th Venice Biennale will feature 90 national pavilions, which includes Ukraine's entry “Net Making,” a presentation of work by photographers and video artists Katya Buchatska, Daniil Revkovskyi, Andrii Dostliev, Lia Dostlieva and Andrii Rachynskyi, and architect Oleksandr Burlaka . It will be curated by Viktoria Bavykina and Max Gorbatskyi.
Ukraine does not have a permanent pavilion, but this exhibition will be held at the Venice Arsenale.
Additionally, a video installation by Ukrainian art collective Open Group will be presented by Poland after the country decided to make last-minute changes to its exhibition for political reasons.
Russia has regularly participated in the Venice Biennale, having established a pavilion in 1914. However, its exhibition for the 59th edition in 2022 was canceled on February 27 of that year, just days after Russia invaded Ukraine. Artists Alexandra Sukhareva and Kirill Savchenkov, and curator Raimundas Malašauskas announced their resignations on social media.
“There is nothing more to say, there is no place for art when civilians die under missile fire,” Savchenkov wrote. “As I was born in Russia, I will not present my work in Venice.”
Political conflicts have regularly affected national presentations at the Venice Biennale, although, notably, Israel will go ahead with its pavilion this year, despite its ongoing military conflict with Palestine. Artist Ruth Patir, whose exhibition is being organized by curators Mira Lapidot and Tamar Margalit, will represent the country.
The US Palestine Museum, which presented a side event at the 2022 Venice Biennale, submitted a proposal for this year's biennale but was rejected. The proposed exhibition, “Foreigners in their Homeland”, featuring contemporary Palestinian art, will now be held as an unofficial collateral event at the Palazzo Mora in Venice, opening on April 20.
Source: Artnet News