When the Director-General of UNESCO, Audrey Azoulay speaks of the ARTISTS AT RISK PAVILION in Venice, you sit up!
We were pleasantly surprised to be informed, retrospectively, of her powerful message on World Art Day 2024, which emphasised the key role of the protection of the status and livelihoods of artists and cultural professionals by the UNESCO-Aschberg Programme.
What a wonderful crowd! A heartfelt thank you to everyone for your contributions, passion and solidarity to the ARTISTS AT RISK PAVILION — Artists. Risks. Humans. Rights held with the support of UNESCO.
Photos from the events on the 18th and 19th of April. Photo Credits: recompo.se / Artists at Risk (AR)
Artists at Risk (AR) extends its heartfelt gratitude to all contributions to the ARTISTS AT RISK PAVILION—Artists. Risks. Humans. Rights. held with the support of UNESCO on the occasion of the 60th International Art Exhibition: La Biennale di Venezia.
In search of laughs at the 2024 #Venice#Biennale
There may have not been a coherent thread at the Biennale di #Venezia this year, entitled Foreigners Everywhere, but Stanley Moss did manage to find true treasures among the repetition and pretentiousness
Photographed by Gioia Meller Markovicz
A wave of euphoria hit the audience as Fo Sho Sisters, the Ukrainian-Ethiopian hip-hop trio, dived into their set. What an amazing concert for the closing act of the ARTISTS AT RISK PAVILION! So overwhelming, that both Jörg Heiser in Republik magazine (https://www.republik.ch/2024/04/26/demo-auf-der-biennale) and the renowned filmmaker Hito Steyerl @hito (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2nUnvowFAk4&t=452s) acclaimed FO SHO as worthy of the Golden Lion.
A review of 'South West Bank' at the Venice Biennale, which presents work made by 20 artists who are based permanently in the Bethlehem area, or who participated in residency programmes at Dar Jacir, the cultural institution established by Bethlehem-born artist Emily Jacir.
SaidAhmed Mohammed Alhassan from #Sudan presented two newly commissioned sculptures in The AR PAVILION. Alhassan is currently an AR-Resident at ArtVeda AR-Tunis.
‘Whale - Borders 1 & 2’ are life-ring-like inner-tubes covered by a mosaic made of materials such as tesserae, stone, glass, ceramic, and Sudanese fabrics.
We can hardly contain our joy and excitement that Delaine Le Bas, our great friend and long-time partner of AR/PM in multiple initiatives, has been nominated for the prestigious Turner Prize!
Delaine Le Bas’ iconic ‘Romani Embassy’ is part of the AR Pavilion at UNESCO Venice’s Palazzo Zorzi.
Kholod Hawash has the distinction of being presented in two pavilions on the occasion of the 2024 Venice Biennale!
Her sumptuous, vibrant textile ‘Long Nights’ holds a prominent space in the AR Pavilion. Her hand-sewn costumes, furthermore, are a key visual aspect of 'The Altersea Opera' in the Nordic Countries Pavilion.
The ARTISTS AT RISK PAVILION—Artists. Risks. Humans. Rights. with the support of UNESCO HQ
Nkosilathi Emmanuel Moyo is a #humanrights activist, writer and #artist based in the mining town of Kwekwe in central #Zimbabwe. Moyo uses various forms of art including poems, protest songs and writing to advocate for human rights and the application of the rule of law in Zimbabwe.
The ARTISTS AT RISK PAVILION—Artists. Risks. Humans. Rights. with the support of UNESCO HQ
Preview Launch: 18-19 April, 2024
Palazzo Zorzi, UNESCO Office Venice
Nikita Kravtsov is a Ukrainian #artist. From the start of the war between Russia and Ukraine, he has been active in intervening on the streets to raise public awareness through murals, stencils, guerrilla advertising & more.
The ARTISTS AT RISK PAVILION—Artists. Risks. Humans. Rights. with the support of UNESCO HQ
Preview Launch: 18-19 April 2024
Palazzo Zorzi, UNESCO Office Venice
Mirwais Rekab is a film director & cameraman from #Afghanistan. Following the Taliban takeover in 2021, Reka fled from Afghanistan for a 2nd time and arrived in Berlin as an Artists at Risk (AR)-Resident. He currently lives in exile in Europe.
The ARTISTS AT RISK PAVILION—Artists. Risks. Humans. Rights. with the support of UNESCO HQ
Preview Launch: 18-19 April 2024
Palazzo Zorzi, UNESCO Office Venice
Kholod Hawash is a textile #artist from #Iraq. Her work is inspired by the cultural heritage of her former homeland: the region’s landscapes, symbols & local narratives. She is an AR-alumna who lives in exile in Finland.
"Is It Possible to Decolonise a Biennial?" by Manuel Borja-Villel #ArtReview
"Operating under the title Foreigners Everywhere, the 60th Venice Biennale promises to be both inclusive and a gesture towards decolonising one of the world’s foremost largescale exhibitions. But is it possible to decolonise a biennial? Can a decolonising discourse radically transform the institution?"
" I am quite sure that the Venice Biennale will grant visibility to some narratives that have been unjustly silenced, if not repressed. Nevertheless, if the people who produced those narratives are denied the possibility of creating their own frames of reference and cannot determine their own forms of governance, then Foreigners Everywhere will remain once more an empty gesture. Decolonisation is a two-way street."
The ARTISTS AT RISK PAVILION—Artists. Risks. Humans. Rights. with the support of UNESCO HQ is a celebration of artists & cultural professionals who risk their lives on the frontlines of artistic freedom & #humanrights.
Biennale Preview Launch: 18-19 April 2024
Palazzo Zorzi, UNESCO Office Venice
Issa Touma is a self-taught #photographer & film director based in Aleppo, #Syria.
The ARTISTS AT RISK PAVILION—Artists. Risks. Humans. Rights. with the support of UNESCO HQ is a celebration of artists and cultural professionals who risk their lives on the frontlines of artistic freedom and #humanrights.
Delaine Le Bas is a cross-disciplinary artist & one of the 16 artists who were part of the first Roma pavilion at Venice Biennale 2007.
ARTISTS AT RISK PAVILION—Artists. Risks. Humans. Rights. with the support of UNESCO HQ
Biennale Preview: 18-19 April 2024
Palazzo Zorzi, UNESCO Office Venice
Damian Le Bas established a diverse practice across textile, collage, painting and performance. Damian Le Bas was an Artists at Risk (AR)-Resident in Helsinki and participated in the Perpetuum Gypsy/Roma Pavilion in Venice in 2009.
ARTISTS AT RISK PAVILION—Artists. Risks. Humans. Rights. with the support of UNESCO HQ
Biennale Preview: 18-19 April 2024
Palazzo Zorzi, UNESCO Office Venice
Bariş Seyitvan is an independent Kurdish artist & curator from Diyarbakir, Turkey who currently lives in Berlin, Germany. He was an AR-Resident in Helsinki and Berlin. Seyitvan‘s focus is on contemporary art and migration in the Middle East.
The ARTISTS AT RISK PAVILION—Artists. Risks. Humans. Rights. with the support of UNESCO HQ is a celebration of artists and cultural professionals who risk their lives on the frontlines of artistic freedom and human rights.
Biennale Preview Launch: 18-19 April, 2024
Palazzo Zorzi, UNESCO Office Venice
The ARTISTS AT RISK PAVILION—Artists. Risks. Humans. Rights. with the support of UNESCO HQ is a celebration of artists and cultural professionals who risk their lives on the frontlines of artistic freedom and human rights.
Biennale Preview Launch: 18-19 April, 2024
Palazzo Zorzi, UNESCO Office Venice
The ARTISTS AT RISK PAVILION—Artists. Risks. Humans. Rights. with the support of UNESCO HQ is a celebration of artists and cultural professionals who risk their lives on the frontlines of artistic freedom and human rights.
Biennale Preview Launch: 18-19 April, 2024
Palazzo Zorzi, UNESCO Office Venice
ARTISTS AT RISK PAVILION with the support of UNESCO (Paris)—Artists. Risks. Humans. Rights.
Biennale Preview Launch: 18-19 April, 2024
Palazzo Zorzi, UNESCO Office Venice
The ARTISTS AT RISK PAVILION with the support of UNESCO—Artists. Risks. Humans. Rights. is a celebration of artists and cultural professionals who risk their lives on the frontlines of artistic freedom and human rights.
#VeniceBiennale / Artists and Curators Call for Israel to be Excluded
“Art does not happen in a vacuum and cannot transcend reality, […] While Israel’s curatorial team plans their so-called ‘Fertility Pavilion’ reflecting on contemporary motherhood, Israel has murdered more than 12,000 children and destroyed access to reproductive care and medical facilities. As a result, Palestinian women have C-sections without anesthetic and give birth in the street.”
“Any official representation of Israel on the international cultural stage is an endorsement of its policies and of the genocide in Gaza.”
[cont’d] Culture Minister Sangiuliano rules out Israel exclusion from Venice Biennale
Israel will always have Neo-fascists to defend it. Like Gennaro Sangiuliano, Italy's Minister of Culture, appointed by far-right PM Giorgia Meloni.
Sangiuliano was previously the director of the state-owned news channel TG2, which critics accused of normalizing right-wing discourse under his leadershiP. In his youth, he was involved with the far-right Youth Front and a neo-fascist political party. Claims to be independent though.
[…] "The diktat of those who think they are the holders of the truth and, with arrogance and hatred, think they can threaten the freedom of thought and of creative expression in a democratic, free nation like Italy is unacceptable and shameful,"