PEN America Partners with Ukraine National Pavilion for Venice Biennale
New York
PEN America’s Artists at Risk Connection (ARC) proudly announces its collaboration with the Ukrainian Pavilion at the 60th International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia. The exhibition opens to the public on April 20 and runs until November 24.
“ARC and PEN America are pleased to support the vital work of the six Ukrainian artists featured in the Ukrainian Pavilion at the Venice Biennale. The Biennale offers a unique opportunity for visitors to witness the remarkable resilience and unity of Ukrainian artists at a time when Ukrainian culture is under attack,” said Julie Trébault, Director of ARC.
“The Russian government’s targeted and ruthless assault on Ukraine’s artists, writers, and cultural institutions is a key tactic in their effort to annex Ukraine by falsely claiming it does not have its own culture or history. Yet Russia underestimates the power of art and artists to persevere even in the darkest moments. The Ukrainian cultural community possesses an inspiring synergy that defies Putin’s merciless cultural erasure campaign, ensuring the vitality of a culture that is resoundingly ‘Ukrainian.’ Ukrainian art is alive because of the vibrant artistic community and it will continue to fortify the human spirit, foster unity, and embody unyielding resilience.”
The theme of the 2024 Art Biennale, Stranieri Ovunque — Foreigners Everywhere, addresses the universal question of “otherness” and “the coexistence of diversity.” As expressed in its press release, “The Ukrainian Pavilion will present personal experiences of war, emigration, and assimilation in new societies and the transformation of language under the pressure of violence.”
The Ukrainian Pavilion is curated by Viktoria Bavykina and Max Gorbatskyi, who will host the groundbreaking project “Net Making,” which weaves together the work of Ukrainian photo and video artists Daniil Revkovskyi, Andrii Dostliev, Lia Dostlieva, and Andrii Rachynskyi, multimedia artist Katya Buchatska, and pavilion architect Oleksandr Burlaka.
In response to Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, ARC has supported over 450 Ukrainian visual artists through its Emergency and Resilience grants, with the generous support of the Helen Frankenthaler Foundation and the Andy Warhol Foundation. PEN America’s 2022 report, Ukrainian Culture Under Attack, is an overview of the systematic erasure of Ukrainian culture by the Russian government since 2014.
For further information or to schedule interviews, contact Dietlind Lerner at dlerner@pen.org / +1 310 699 8775 or Lisa Korneichuk at info@ukrainianphotographies.org.
January 25, 2024