The Republic of Moldova is making its first official participation in the International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia with the project “On the Thousand and Second Night.” The pavilion opened on Thursday, May 7.

The project created by Pavel Brăila and curated by Adelina Luft is presented in the Santa Veneranda Chapel, part of the Church of Saints Jeremiah and Lucy. Inside the chapel, a composition of carpets woven from the shared memory of several territories floats between the floor and the vault, supported by active drones.

“The installation brings to the forefront a state specific to the present, in which sound becomes the expression of a reality in conflict with life itself. In this context, the project returns to the universe of One Thousand and One Nights, not to retell it, but to keep it open and to refuse the idea of an ending,” according to the press release.

“I would have preferred to work on something else, on something not shaped by war. But in moments like this, you cannot remain silent. You feel the need to speak, to react, to make visible what cannot be ignored,” said artist Pavel Brăila.

“'On the Thousand and Second Night' is an installation built on contrasts: the fairy tale coexists with the nightmare; the complex symbolic universe of carpets is interrupted by the sound of drone propellers; the unseen forces of the divine compete with the power of evil,” added curator Adelina Luft.

From May 7 until November 22, "On the Thousand and Second Night" will be open to the general public as part of the International Art Exhibition - La Biennale di Venezia, an event that attracted approximately 700,000 visitors at the previous edition in 2024.

radu@romania-insider.com

(Photo source: Vadim Hîncu | Moldova Pavilion press release)