60th Venice Biennale Official Collateral Event
curated by Oleksandra Pogrebnyak, Ksenia Malykh, Björn Geldhof
with PinchukArtCentre
Palazzo Contarini Polignac, Venice

Can we imagine tomorrow? Do we have the courage to dream?

The world has reached an inflection point. Storms and climate change ravage lands far and wide. Political extremes are seizing their growing momentum. Russia's war in Ukraine unveiled an ongoing global power struggle that has brought war back to Europe. We are at a crucial moment where the future is hidden while fundamental changes are on the horizon.

The exhibition weaves a tapestry of stories and dreams gathered from all over, including 22 artists and collectives: Kateryna Aliinyk, Allora & Calzadilla, Alex Baczyński-Jenkins, Fatma Bucak, David Claerbout, Shilpa Gupta, Oleg Holosiy, Nikita Kadan, Zhanna Kadyrova, Dana Kavelina, Nikolay Karabinovych, Lesia Khomenko, Yana Kononova, Kateryna Lysovenko, Otobong Nkanga, Wilfredo Prieto, Oleksiy Sai, Anton Saenko, Fedir Tetianych, Anna Zvyagintseva, Roman Khimei and Yarema Malashchuk, Daniil Revkovskiy and Andriy Rachinskiy.

Departing from Ukrainian lands and its history of forced migration, the exhibition sounds subdued voices that become songs of resistance and resilience. It addresses Earth’s ecological disasters while imagining a new utopia, where mythology merges into an alternative garden of Eden. Exhausted landscapes bear witness to human violence—from extractive economies to the harsh realities of war—while carrying seeds of a new beginning. Amidst these overwhelming circumstances, the fragility of the individual is blossoming yet at risk. Its shadow is cast by touches, movement of nuanced lines as a part of unspoken verse, scenes of normality that question reality. They all converge into a possibility of acceptance.

Can many struggles become the joint creation of a better future? After liberation, can former victims co-exist with former aggressors? Can empathy offer ways of common being in a space of conflicting memories?

Curators: Bjorn Geldhof, Artistic Director of the PinchukArtCentre, Ksenia Malykh, Head of the Research Platform of the PinchukArtCentre, Oleksandra Pogrebnyak, Junior Curator of the PinchukArtCentre.
Assistant curator Oksana Chornobrova.

© Fatma Bucak, Damascus rose