The installation impresses viewers due to the fact that it presents the communicative of real people about real events that are scary. Yuri Biley says directly: – It would be hard for us to do a play that wasn't involved, that would not invitation you to a deeper reflection, that would not be critical and that would not relate to what surrounds us.
We're all foreigners.
This year's 60th edition of the global Art Exhibition is headed by the slogan "Stranieri Ovunque – Foreigners Everywhere", meaning "The Cudzoziems are everywhere". In nearly 90 national pavilions and exhibitions scattered around Venice, more than 300 artists present their knowing of alienity, exile, rooting and non-existence in the modern world, because, as Biennale organizers say, we are all, in a sense, foreigners. The exhibition in the Polish pavilion fits perfectly into this formula. The curator of the exhibition is Marta Czyż, art historian, critic. In her opinion, “Repeat behind me II” is simply a peaceful manifesto entitled “Never Again” sent from Venice to the planet present in the face of increasing political tensions.
"Repeat for me II" is the second part of a two-step task in the years 2022 and 2024. Its characters are civilians from Ukraine, present surviving in Berlin, Vilnius, Wrocław, Vienna, Tullamore and fresh York. The war is described by sounds imitating types of threats: air alarm, artillery fire, tank passage, bomb blasts. Until late they witnessed bombings, experienced raids and attacks, and now from safe places they comment on the fresh past and invitation audiences to a circumstantial karaoke bar, where with them anyone can repeat sounds of gunfire, canonade, explosions, sirens, word – the soundtrack of thousands of kilometers further east of the war. Tymofij (he left Ukraine for Poland) imitates the sound of a siren alerting about the raid, Natalia (she left Kiev for Berlin) – sounds of artillery fire, and Vlad from Mariupola – passing tanks. Learning to separate these sounds allowed them to keep their lives in many cases.
Some cry
I'm watching silent people staring at the screen, incapable to make the effort to approach the microphone. Only a fewer of the fewer 100 who have passed through the pavilion in an hr decide to do so. Many are terrified by the messages contained in the characters' statements, any cry due to the fact that it was a very strong message for them – says Laura from Italy, a cultural mediator, sitting in the reception of the pavilion. The couple from Argentina tell me that for them what they saw and heard was funny, but most participants seem overwhelmed by the burden of excitement. Beata from Poland asks why she did not come to the microphone, answers that it was besides difficult. She felt that she couldn't get into individual else's shoes, felt that it wouldn't be authentic. Dirk from Belgium was very moved by this task – he realized that the destiny of the Ukrainians was in common with the destiny of many another people worldwide suffering from wars and persecution. Monika and Marek (a couple of tourists from Poland) claim that specified artistic events and the fact that Poland at the biennial represent artists from Ukraine, emphasize the solidarity of Poles with their country's people. She appreciated these gestures of Tania from Ukraine: “It was a cry from the bottom of my heart, wounded by Russian aggression. Thank you, Poland, for your actions.”
It would seem that after a fewer years the war in Ukraine has already become a “obvious obvious”, due to the fact that we are utilized to it. This is noted by Magda from Poland, but she adds that this conflict is inactive ongoing and, as she says, "at any time we can become specialists in distinguishing dangerous sounds." However, it is the hope and belief that the conflict is coming to an end that dominates the entries in the memorial book. At the same time, 1 of the last entries I read wakes our consciences: “It is essential to go to Venice to remember that there is war abroad.” A war no 1 should stay indifferent to.
