artist represent israel This year’s Venice Biennale in Italy and its curators said on Tuesday they would not open the Israeli pavilion until a ceasefire and hostage agreement was reached in Israel’s months-long war with Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
On Tuesday, a sign in English taped to the window of the Israeli pavilion read: “When a ceasefire and hostage release agreement is reached, the artists and curators of the Israeli pavilion will open the exhibition.”
Artist Ruth Patil said in a statement that she and the curators wanted to express solidarity with the hostages’ families and “the wider Israeli community who are calling for change.”
Patil said in a statement: “As an artist and educator, I am staunchly opposed to cultural boycotts, but in an era of unfathomable disregard for life, I encountered great challenges in presenting a project that speaks to the fragility of life. Difficulties.”
Italian soldiers patrol the Israel pavilion at the Biennale of Contemporary Art in Venice, Italy, Tuesday, April 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Colleen Barry)
Israel is one of 88 countries participating in the 60th World Cup Venice Biennale, from April 20 to November 20. 24. The Israel Pavilion was built in 1952 as a permanent representation of Israel in the Giardini, the original home of the world’s oldest contemporary art exhibition and home to 29 national pavilions. location. Other country shows are held at nearby armories or at venues throughout the city.
But even before the statement was issued, curators and critics signed an open letter calling on the biennale to exclude the Israeli pavilion from this year’s exhibition in protest of Israel’s war in Gaza. Those opposed to Israel’s existence also vowed to protest on site.
italian culture minister Firmly supporting Israel’s participation, the fair opened amid an unusually high level of security.
National pavilions in Venice are independent of the main exhibition, and each country decides on its own exhibition, which may or may not fit the curator’s vision. Patil’s exhibition in Israel is called “(M)otherland.”
People stand in front of the closed Israeli national pavilion at the Biennale of Contemporary Art in Venice, Italy, on Tuesday, April 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)
Mira Lapidot and Tamar Margalit, curators of the Israel pavilion, said they had postponed the opening of the exhibition because of “the horrific war that is breaking out in Gaza,” but They hope that the situation will change so that the exhibition can be in public view.
They said: “There is no end in sight, only more pain, loss and destruction. The exhibition has ended and the pavilion is waiting to open.” Currently, a video work produced by Patil can be seen through the windows of the pavilion. .
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The (M)otherland exhibition is scheduled to run from Saturday 20 April to Sunday 24 November.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.