Israeli artist closes Biennale pavilion, calls for Gaza ceasefire
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Ruth Patir says the exhibition represents a huge opportunity for young artists, but the situation in Gaza was “so much bigger than me."
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A building with writing Biennale is surrounded by a smoke effect in view of the 58th Biennale of Arts exhibition in Venice, Italy, on May 7, 2019. (AP)
"Israel’s" representative at Italy's Venice Biennale, Ruth Patir, confirmed that her show won't open at the pavilion until “a cease-fire and hostage release agreement” are reached.
A sign by the Israeli team taped to the door of the pavilion reads: “The artist and curators of the Israeli pavilion will open the exhibition when a cease-fire and hostage release agreement is reached."
"Israel" has its own pavilion in the Giardini, the parkland where the biennial art festival takes place, alongside 28 countries.
“I hate it,” Patir said in an interview regarding her decision, “but I think it’s important.”
As the Biennale opens on Saturday, Patir said it represents a huge opportunity for young artists, but the situation in Gaza was “so much bigger than me,” as she continued that closing her exhibition was all she could do at the moment.
Tamar Margalit, an Israeli curator who was part of the decision with Patir and Mira Lapidot, another curator, revealed that the decision, coming from an artist representing "Israel" at an important international event, could backfire from Israeli lawmakers.
Margalit stated the exhibition video pieces could still be seen through the pavilion’s windows, depicting animated images of ancient fertility statues with grief and anger.
The upcoming 60th International Art Exhibition of the Venice Biennale, often dubbed the "Olympics of the art world" for its long tradition of showcasing global talent, is set to commence on April 20, but not without stirring up controversy.
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Patir claimed her art mirrored her sadness and frustration over the atrocities in Gaza, adding that the emotions in the film “felt accurate to the experience of living in this moment."
Biennale-ian bias
The Art Not Genocide Alliance (ANGA) group released an open letter in February signed by past and future Biennales participants in the Venice Biennale condemning "Israel’s" partaking at the event.
The petition stressed, “Any official representation of Israel on the international cultural stage is an endorsement of its policies and of the genocide in Gaza,” emphasizing that “the Biennale is platforming a genocidal apartheid state.”
Even though the exhibition is dubbed “a fertility pavilion,” Patir claimed it was more of an exploration of the pressure on women to become mothers. She expressed crying regularly over "Israel's" actions in Gaza and said she had been attending the protests in "Tel Aviv".
“It was almost triggering,” Patir expressed, “seeing these broken women in relation to all the images on the news.”
The petition labeled the act of allowing "Israel" to be part of the Biennale as a “double standard”, arguing that the organization excluded South Africa during its apartheid era, as well as Russia in 2022 amid the start of the war in Ukraine.
The theme of this year’s Biennale is “Foreigners Everywhere".
Its curator Adriano Pedrosa stated that the background of this year’s exhibit is “a world rife with multiple crises concerning the movement and existence of people across countries, nations, territories, and borders, which reflect the perils and pitfalls of language, translation, and ethnicity, expressing differences and disparities conditioned by identity, nationality, race, gender, sexuality, wealth, and freedom.”
