The First Lady of Ukraine Olena Zelenska delivered a special video address at the opening of the Ukrainian pavilion at the 60th Venice Biennale.
The President's wife brought to the attention of the Western community the state of Ukrainian culture in times of war and the importance of art for preserving the values of humanity, solidarity, and human life.
“Art will not save us from bombs or bullets. But it saves our consciousness, our humanity, and our values,” Olena Zelenska said against the backdrop of intensifying Russian attacks on Ukrainian cities and villages.
The Ukrainian pavilion at the 60th Venice Biennale was opened with a group exhibition "Net Making". It is curated by Viktoria Bavykina and Max Gorbatskyi. The title of the exhibition is based on the idea of the joint weaving of camouflage nets by Ukrainians during the war as a metaphor for joint action and horizontal resistance. This practice becomes a symbol of collective resistance to the Russian invasion.
“Dozens of Ukrainian artists worked in our cities, under shelling and air raids, so that this pavilion could be opened in Venice. When you walk the streets of beautiful Venice, you are delighted to see its antiquity and beauty preserved. Meanwhile, the beauty and antiquity that Ukraine is rich in are being destroyed every day. Not by the forces of nature, but by the criminal intent of the attacker. And when artists still work, in the middle of the war, in their Ukrainian studios with windows shattered by shelling, they do it to preserve not only Ukrainian culture but the culture of the whole world”, the First Lady noted.
Among others, the opening ceremony of the Ukrainian pavilion was attended by Taras Shevchenko, the pavilion commissioner and the Deputy Minister for European Integration, Viktoria Bavykina, and Max Gorbatskyi, the curators of the exhibition, and the artists of the project, Oleksandr Burlaka, Katya Buchatska, Andriy Rachinskiy, Daniil Revkovskyi, Lia Dostlieva, and Andrii Dostliev.
15 neurodiverse artists who co-authored the project "Best Wishes" by Katya Buchatska were also able to attend the opening of the pavilion.