Ukrainian Pavilion at Venice Biennale Gets Backing from Billionaire Victor Pinchuk

Ukrainian billionaire Victor Pinchuk, pictured left with Jeff Koons, is a well-known arts philanthropist

The PinchukArtCentre, with the support of the Victor Pinchuk Foundation, will organize the Ukrainian pavilion at the 56th Venice Biennale.

The Ukrainian pavilion will host a group exhibition featuring works by emerging artists from the country, including Yevgenia Belorusets, Nikita Kadan, Zhanna Kadyrova, Mykola Ridnyi & Serhiy Zhadan, Artem Volokitin, Anna Zvyagintseva, and Open Group.

The pavilion, commissioned by the Ukrainian Ministry of Culture, will be curated by the deputy artistic director of the PinchukArtCentre, Björn Geldhof.

“The newly emerging Ukraine needs international understanding and support from its friends, more than ever before,” Victor Pinchuk, the Ukrainian billionaire businessman and arts philanthropist behind the project, said in a statement (see Collector Victor Pinchuk Speaks Out About Ukraine Crisis).

“The young generation of artists we have been supporting for many years started the future Ukraine already long ago—independent, uncompromising, critically reflective…,” he added. “I am proud that we can make a small but important contribution to the international communication of my country by organizing the Ukrainian national pavilion.”

Located in a glass construction on the Riva dei Sette Martiri, the pavilion is presented as a metaphor for a new, transparent Ukraine.

Victor Pinchuk supports several arts projects, such as the Pinchuk Future Generation Art Prize (see Pinchuk Future Generation Arts Prize Shortlist Announced and $100,000 Future Generation Art Prize Awarded).


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