Biennale, Russia Pavilion will be closed: artists and curator pull out in protest

The Pavilion of Russia at the Venice Biennale 2022 will remain closed: it was just a few minutes ago that the organization of the pavilion, due to the withdrawal of the two artists who were supposed to exhibit namely Russians Alexandra Sukhareva and Kirill Savchenkov, and Lithuanian curator Raimundas Malašauskas, decided to leave it closed. Therefore, the scheduled exhibition, titled 914.

“The Pavilion of Russia,” reads a post on the organization’s Instagram, “is a home for artists, for art and for creative people. We have worked closely with the artists and curator from day one on this project and have been waiting for their independent decisions, which we respect and most importantly support. Kirill Savchenkov, Alexandra Sukhareva and Raimundas Malašauskas have just announced that they will not be part of the Russian Pavilion project at the 59th Venice Biennale and as a result the Russian Pavilion will remain closed.”

The reasons for the withdrawal were made explicit this afternoon. “There is no place for art when civilians die under rocket fire, when citizens of Ukraine hide in shelters, and when those who protest in Russia are silenced,” Sukhareva wrote today in a note in which Savchenkov was also tagged. “Because I was born in Russia, I will not present my work at the Pavilion of Russia at the Venice Biennale.”

“Today I resigned as curator of the Russia Pavilion for the 59th Venice Biennale, which was scheduled for April this year,” Malašauskas explained instead. “I express my admiration and gratitude for Russian artists Alexandra Sukhareva and Kirill Savchenkov, with whom I worked to develop the Biennale project. However, I cannot continue working on this project in light of Russia’s military invasion and bombing of Ukraine. This war is untenable both politically and emotionally. As you know, I was born and raised in Lithuania when it was part of the Soviet Union. I lived there until the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1989, and I have been following the development of my country ever since. The idea of going back or continuing to live under an empire, Russian or anyone else’s, is simply intolerable.”

Ukraine’s pavilion, on the other hand, remains in doubt: the organization had let it be known on Friday that it will continue to work on the project if conditions are right.

Pictured: the Russia Pavilion at the Venice Biennale. Photo KASA - Alexandra Kovaleva/Kei Sato

Biennale, Russia Pavilion will be closed: artists and curator pull out in protest

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