(Rome) The curator and the Russian artists selected to represent their country at the Venice Art Biennale have resigned due to the invasion of Ukraine, the organizers of the Biennale announced on Monday, who hailed their “act of bravery”.
Posted at 3:49 p.m.
The Russian pavilion at the 59and The Venice Art Biennale, which will open on April 23, will therefore remain closed.
“The Venice Biennale has been informed of the decision of the curator and artists of the pavilion of the Russian Federation to resign from their functions, thus canceling the participation of this country in the 59and edition of the Biennale,” they said in a statement.
“We express our full solidarity with this noble act of courage and with the motivations that led to this decision, which dramatically embodies the tragedy affecting the entire Ukrainian population,” the Biennale said in a statement.
On Sunday, artists Alexandra Sukhareva and Kirill Savchenkov, as well as curator Raimundas Malaauskas announced on Instagram their withdrawal from the Russian pavilion due to the conflict in Ukraine.
“The Russian pavilion will remain closed,” assured the artists and the curator. “When civilians die under missile fire, Ukrainian citizens hide in shelters and Russian protesters are asphyxiated, there is no place for art,” they wrote in a joint publication. .
Last week, artist Pavlo Makov and curators Lizaveta German, Maira Lanko and Borys Filonenko of the Ukrainian pavilion informed organizers that they could no longer work on the project due to the Russian invasion.
The Biennale, which runs from April 23 to November 27, 2022 and is dedicated to magical worlds, imagination and transition, on Saturday rejected “all forms of war and violence”.
A total of 80 countries will participate with their pavilions. Under the motto “The Milk of Dreams”, curated by Italian Cecilia Alemani, the exhibition will also present the works of 213 guest artists from 58 countries, with 1433 exhibits.