ARTISTS ANNOUNCED FOR UKRAINE AND PORTUGAL’S PAVILIONS AT VENICE BIENNALE
The Ministry of Culture and Tourism of Ukraine and the PinchukArtCenter have announced that Illya Chichkan, from Ukraine, and Mihara Yasuhiro, from Japan, will collaboratively be representing Ukraine at the fifty-third Venice Biennale. The exhibition’s title will be “Steppes of Dreamers.” Peter Doroshenko, PinchukArtCenter’s artistic director, will be the commissioner.
The collaborative effort between Chichkan and Yasuhiro will examine the past, present, and future of the Eurasian landscape through various cinema metaphors, inspired by the Ukrainian film director Kira Muratova. Their four large-scale art installations will be displayed inside and outside the Palazzo Papadopali. Says Doroshenko, “Ukraine has always been an interconnecting point for cultural, social, and economic routes that extend from West to East. Illya Chichkan at one point in his life was a fashion designer and then later became an artist. Mihara Yasuhiro started out as an artist and then became a fashion designer. Volodymyr Klichko, the world-champion boxer, has been appointed curator for the exhibition. Their varied backgrounds will create an important dialogue around identity roles and issues in society today.”
In other news, Portugal will be represented by the artists João Maria Gusmão and Pedro Paiva, with an installation of their works at Fondaco dell’Arte curated by Natxo Checa. The pavilion is commissioned and produced by the Directorate-General for Arts of the Portuguese Ministry of Culture. In the past decade, the artist duo have participated in international contexts such as the twenty-seventh Bienal de São Paulo, the sixth Mercosul Biennial, Manifesta 7, and PhotoEspaña 08, as well as exhibitions at CCA Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts in San Francisco and Kunstverein Hanover. They have upcoming exhibitions at Ikon Gallery in Birmingham, UK, and Inhotim Cultural Center in Minas Gerais, Brazil.
