Venice, 17 April. (askanews) – Closed until further notice, awaiting a ceasefire. The Israeli pavilion at the sixtieth Venice Art Biennale has not opened its doors; visitors can instead read a sign displayed on the entrance door which warns of the closure “until a ceasefire is agreed and the hostages are freed” in the hands of Hamas. The decision was made by the artist, Ruth Patir, and the curators of the pavilion Tamar Margalit and Mira Lapidot, also following the many pressures received and threats of boycott in protest against the Israeli offensive in Gaza.
But Patir’s decision takes on a high symbolic value. The works were ready and installed, including a video, the only thing visible from outside the structure.
Patir’s project is called “Motherland”, Motherland and the artist was announced as the Israeli representative in Venice a month before the Hamas attack on Israel on 7 October.
“We have become the news, not the art,” Patir wrote on Instagram. “And since I have a high-impact stage, I want it to count. I am against the cultural boycott, but since I can’t find the right answers to the situation and I can only use the space I have, I prefer to raise my voice to say that I am with those who shout ‘cease fire immediately, release the hostages, we can’t take it anymore'”.
