Biennale Arte, Pussy Riot on stage in Venice and living pavilions of nationalities oppressed by Russia

The Pussy Riot who would have liked to arrive from the water and ‘living pavilions’ of the nationalities included within the borders of the Russian Federation, historically oppressed by Moscow, since the beginning of the war against Ukraine as a reservoir of cannon fodder to be sent to the front, will be staged in the area of ​​the Gardens of the Venice Biennale during the pre-opening of the 61st International Art Exhibition, between 6 and 8 May. To protest against Russia’s presence at the exhibition. And also – in the case of the “socio-artistic action” of nationalities – to denounce “the continuity between external military aggression and internal colonial practices” to the detriment of the almost 200 ethnic communities excluded from the political and cultural scene of the country in which they live, “unknown to the public and not represented at an official level”, as explained by the organizers of the project created with the participation of Arts Against Aggression, Memorial Italia and Free Nations League.

As Adnkronos learns, these are the two main protest initiatives, “independent but the result of coordination”, organized by the Russian community abroad which opposes Vladimir Putin, in the days of the inauguration of the Exhibition. The only days, among other things, in which the Russian Pavilion will be inhabited, which instead during the period of opening to the public of the Exhibition, from 9 May to 22 November, will be impassable, with visitors confined outside the building designed by Aleksei Shchusev at the beginning of the twentieth century authorized to watch only from the open windows the video played in loop of the exhibition of the artists invited to participate scheduled only for the pre-opening days.

The event “From the margins of the empire to the open lagoon” was instead conceived as the opposite, as an “exhibition without walls”, to “bring to the foreground performers belonging to the indigenous and colonized peoples of the Russian Federation, denouncing the repression, forced assimilation and systematic silencing, or appropriation, of indigenous voices”. “The declared reopening of the official Russian pavilion itself comes into tension with the reality experienced by these communities”, it is underlined.

The performance of the nationalities will start with a symbolic gesture, the exit from a closed and ‘shadowed’ space, indicated by the writing “GULAG of the people”. And it will continue in the public space, between the entrance to the Gardens and the Lagoon, with what is described as “a symbolic passage from closure to opening”. Each participant will bring with them works, images, testimonies and names linked to underrepresented communities, “activated” by this very passage. “Living pavilions will embody a culture and present works in place of absent national representations, giving shape to a temporary and widespread exhibition — a public configuration of bodies, voices and works.”

As the only clue to Pussy Riot’s “protest with an artistic component” in Venice, Nadia Tolokonnikova, a leading exponent of the collective, had recently referred to the performance at the Sochi Olympics in 2014 entitled ‘Putin will teach you to love your homeland’. Four activists from the Russian feminist collective, with the colorful balaclavas on their heads that made them famous, had swam onto the mainland, before starting their performance under the Olympic rings and being attacked by the security forces. “The Venice Biennale is for art what the Olympics are for sport,” Tolokonnikova declared in an interview with Meduza. The idea of ​​their arrival from the water, however, left room for another project, with a greater impact, we now learn.

A “staggering number” of personalities expressed their desire to participate in the performance. “There are prominent collectors, curators and artists from other pavilions. People are willing to come from all over Europe”, Tolokonnikova limited herself to specifying.