The PinchukArtCentre and Victor Pinchuk Foundation, in partnership with the Office of the President of Ukraine and Ministry of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine, are presenting “This is Ukraine: Defending Freedom” at the Scuola Grande della Misericordia in Venice through August 7. The show, curated by Björn Geldhof, testifies to the country’s heart and courage, focusing on friendship and freedom. The first chapter presents works from artists Yevgenia Belorusets, Nikita Kadan, and Lesia Khomeno, working under Russia’s war in Ukraine. The second showcases Ukrainian artists allied with international artists like Marina Abramović, Olafur Eliasson, JR, Damien Hirst, Boris Mikhailov, and Takashi Murakami, united for a critical response to the war.
“We conceptualized, prepared, and installed the exhibition in less than four weeks, an impossible project for impossible times. But doing the impossible is what Ukraine does on a daily basis. And for this reason, the exhibition is both necessary and urgent. Ukraine has a strong artistic voice, one that goes beyond direct war narratives but speaks, in the midst of it all critically, of life and survival, of love letters and dreams. We need this voice to be heard, we need to listen to it and rally around it,” said Geldhof.
