International artists in solidarity with the Ukrainian people thanks to “Piazza Ukraine”, the special project that the Venice Biennale presents on the occasion of the 59th International Art Exhibition (23 April – 27 November), conceived above all as a space dedicated to Ukrainian artists and their resistance to Russian aggression.
“Ukraine Square” is built around a monument covered with sandbags, a reference to the widespread practice in times of war in Ukrainian cities to protect public art from bombing. Curated by Borys Filonenko, Lizaveta German, Maria Lanko, curators of the Ukrainian Pavilion, with the collaboration of the Ukrainian Emergency Art Fund and the Victor Pinchuk Foundation, “Piazza Ukraine” is an installation designed by the Ukrainian architect Dana Kosmina set up at Esedra space in the Giardini della Biennale.
A monument covered with sandbags
“Ukraine Square” is built around a monument covered with sandbags, a reference to the widespread practice in times of war in Ukrainian cities to protect public art from bombing. The purpose of this project, explains the Biennale in a statement, is “to give a voice to the artists and the artistic community of Ukraine and other countries to express solidarity with the Ukrainian population in the aftermath of the brutal invasion by the Russian government and create a space that can be a place for debate, dialogue and support for Ukrainian culture ». The president of the Biennale, Roberto Cicutto, explains: «The 59th Exhibition curated by Cecilia Alemani is now facing Russia’s aggression against Ukraine. The reaction of the Biennale following the outbreak of the conflict was immediate: our institution supported the artist and the curators by offering them the opportunity to present Pavlo Makov’s work, making us all witnesses of their experience. To reconfirm the collaboration between our institution and the Ukrainian institutions, Cecilia Alemani and the Curators of the Ukrainian Pavilion joined their efforts by designing «Ukraine Square», a space dedicated to Ukrainian artists and their resistance to aggression.
Curator Cecilia Alemani
“We hope that this initiative will contribute to raising awareness in the world against war and all its consequences. In times of brutal wars like the one that Ukraine is currently experiencing – comments Cecilia Alemani, curator of the 59th International Art Exhibition – it seems almost impossible to think about art. But perhaps what the long history of the Biennale has taught us is that this institution is capable of being a space for conversation, a square where dialogue can go on and where art can serve as a tool to question the very notion of national identity and politics. In its 127 years of existence, La Biennale has recorded the tremors and revolutions of history like a seismograph. Our hope is to create with Piazza Ukraine a platform of solidarity for the Ukrainian population on the grounds of the Gardens, among the historical pavilions built on the ideological basis of the nation-state, shaped by the geopolitical dynamics and colonial expansions of the twentieth century ».
A place of solidarity
«Ukraine Square», explain the curators Borys Filonenko, Lizaveta German, Maria Lanko, is «a place of solidarity with Ukraine. The Russian-Ukrainian conflict, which began in 2014, entered a critical phase of large-scale military invasion on February 24, 2022. Starting at five in the morning, after the first air strikes, the life of the entire European country is no longer been the same. The same fate befell every single citizen of Ukraine, including artists. Military service, volunteering, cultural diplomacy, storytelling in the form of a diary are just some of the social and private practices that currently keep Ukrainian artists engaged. Most of them have stopped working in the atelier, some still reconcile artistic activities with military and social life, while others continue to produce works of art almost daily ».