Ukraine's Pavilion at the Venice Biennale in doubt. We can't work

Ukraine ’s participation in the 59th Venice Biennale is in doubt. This was announced in a note by the organization of the Pavilion of Ukraine, which was scheduled to be present again this year, in its space in the Arsenale, not far from the Pavilion of Italy. The Pavilion of Ukraine will be called The Fountain of Exhaustion. Acqua alta and will feature only one artist, Pavlo Makov, with a project presented by commissioner Kateryna Chuyeva and curated by Lizaveta German, Maria Lanko and Borys Filonenko. The war in Ukraine, however, threatens to scuttle everything.

“The curators of the pavilion and artist Pavlo Makov,” the note reads, “have received many requests coming in from the press and colleagues. We would like to respond to some of the requests on our behalf and clarify the situation. The following does not represent the position and intentions of the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine, but the personal position of the team behind the pavilion. Ukraine has been invaded. The Russian Federation has attacked the peaceful independent nation of Ukraine. Our lives, the lives of our loved ones and everything we stand for (peace, freedom, democracy, culture) have been endangered.”

“Our team,” the organizers explain, “is scattered all over Ukraine: Kharkiv, Kiev and Lviv. We also have a team member outside Ukraine. At the time of publishing this statement, we are not in immediate danger, but the situation is critical and changing every minute. At the moment, we are unable to continue working on the pavilion project because of the danger to our lives.”

The difficulties are also due to the fact that for more than 24 hours Ukraine, with the closure of airspace, has been cut off from international connections (an aspect that has caused and is also causing difficulties for those who are trying to return to the country): “All international flights to and from Ukraine,” the note reads, “are canceled. Traveling around the country is risky.”

However, conclude the organizers of the Ukrainian pavilion, “we are determined to represent Ukraine at the 59. Art Exhibition - La Biennale di Venezia, but not everything depends on us. If the situation changes and it becomes safe again to continue our work and travel, we will be in Venice. We cannot confirm yet that our project will be completed, but we can promise that we will do everything we can to save a unique artwork produced by Pavlo Makov and our great team especially for the upcoming biennale in the last five months and to represent Ukraine in the international contemporary art scene in the way it deserves to be represented.”

Pictured: the 2019 Ukrainian pavilion, The Shadow of Dream cast upon Giardini della Biennale, curated by Open Group (Yurii Biley, Pavlo Kovach, Stanislav Turina, Anton Varga) and featuring “all the artists of Ukraine.”

Ukraine's Pavilion at the Venice Biennale in doubt. We can't work

Warning: the translation into English of the original Italian article was created using automatic tools. We undertake to review all articles, but we do not guarantee the total absence of inaccuracies in the translation due to the program. You can find the original by clicking on the ITA button. If you find any mistake,please contact us.