Ukraine at the 56th International Art Exposition

PinchukArtCentre to Present Ukraine at the 56th International Art Exposition la Biennale di Venezia with a Group Exhibition Featuring Young Ukrainian Artists

The Ukrainian national pavilion at the 56th International Art Exhibition – la Biennale di Venezia will be organized by the PinchukArtCentre with the support of the Victor Pinchuk Foundation.  Ukraine will present a group exhibition featuring a young generation of Ukrainian artists, including Yevgenia Belorusets, Nikita Kadan, Zhanna Kadyrova, Mykola Ridnyi & Serhiy Zhadan, Artem Volokitin, Anna Zvyagintseva and Open Group. The commissioner of the pavilion is the Ministry of Culture of Ukraine. Björn Geldhof, Deputy Artistic Director, PinchukArtCentre, is the curator of the project.

The Ukrainian national pavilion will be located at the temporal glass construction on the Riva dei Sette Martiri, on the main walking passway from Arsenale to Giardini. It stands as a model for a new, transparent Ukraine reaching out to the world. With this exhibition a young generation of artists voices hopes for Ukraine’s future through a deeply personal commitment and solidarity with those involved in the war.

Victor Pinchuk, Ukrainian businessman and philanthropist, PinchukArtCentre founder: “The newly emerging Ukraine needs international understanding and support from its friends, more than ever before. More than ever it must be represented at the Venice Biennale, where nations always could show who they are to the world. The young generation of artists we have been supporting for many years started the future Ukraine already long ago - independent, uncompromising, critically reflective.  Today they are new Ukraine’s ambassadors. I am proud that we can make a small but important contribution to the international communication of my country by organizing the Ukrainian national pavilion and bringing young artists to Venice.”

Official press-preview of the Ukrainian national pavilion will take place on May 7, 2015 from 09:30 till 12:00 (CET).

Working hours: 10:00 – 18:00, from May 9 till August 2, 2015.

Official hashtag the Ukrainian national pavilion: #biennalearte2015ukraine

The PinchukArtCentre had represented Ukraine in 2007 and 2009 at the 52nd and 53rd International Art Exhibitions - la Biennale di Venezia, organizing the Ukrainian national pavilions, as well as with Future Generation Art Prize@Venice exhibitions in 2011 and 2013 as part of the Collateral events.

The 56th International Art Exhibition – la Biennale di Venezia, entitled “All the World’s Futures”, will run from 9 May to 22 November 2015. It will take place in the institutional venues of the Giardini della Biennale and the Arsenale, with extensions in other venues in the City of Venice. Paolo Baratta is the President and Okwui Enwezor is a curator of la Biennale di Venezia in 2015. The 56th International Art Exhibition of la Biennale di Venezia will also present, as is traditional, the National Participations with their own exhibitions in the Pavilions at the Giardini and at the Arsenale, and in the historic city centre of Venice.

This edition will also include selected Collateral Events, presented by international entities and institutions, which will present their exhibitions and initiatives in Venice concurrently with the 56th Exhibition.

The preview of the 56th International Art Exhibition will take place on May 6th, 7th, 8th 2015.

Official website: labiennale.org

Official hashtag: #biennalearte2015

Organising Institutions: 

Ministry of Culture of Ukraine – Commissioner.

PinchukArtCentre with the support of the Victor Pinchuk Foundation – Organizer.

Short biographies of artists: 

Yevgenia Belorusets

Born in Kyiv, Ukraine, in 1980.

Lives and works in Kyiv, Ukraine and Berlin, Germany.

Nikita Kadan

Born in Kyiv, Ukraine, in 1982.

Lives and works in Kyiv, Ukraine.

Zhanna Kadyrova

Born in Brovary in the Kyiv region, Ukraine, in 1981.

Lives and works in Kyiv, Ukraine.

Mykola Ridnyi

Born in Kharkiv, Ukraine, in 1985.

Lives and works in Kharkiv, Ukraine.

Serhiy Zhadan

Born in Starobilsk, Luhansk Oblast, Ukraine, in 1974.

Lives and works in Kharkiv, Ukraine.

Artem Volokitin

Born in Chuguiv, Kharkiv Region, Ukraine, in 1981.

Lives and works in Kharkiv and Kyiv.

Anna Zvyagintseva

Born in Dnipropetrovsk, Ukraine, in 1986

Lives and works in Kyiv, Ukraine.

Open Group: Yuriy Biley, Anton Varga, Pavlo Kovach, Stanislav Turina

Group was founded in 2012, Lviv.

Members of the group live and work in Lviv and Mukachevo, Ukraine and New York, USA

Short biography of Curator:

Björn Geldhof

Born in Belgium in 1979.

Since 2009 he lives in Kyiv, Ukraine and works as deputy artistic director in the PinchukArtCentre.