La Biennale d’Arte di Venezia is an international exhibition of contemporary art that has been held biennially in Venice since 1895. Outside of the central, international exhibition, individual nations produce their own shows, known as pavilions, as their national representation. One such pavilion, built for the presentations of the Czechoslovak Republic, bears the inscription CECOSLOVACCHIA, and will celebrate its centennial this year.
The CECOSLOVACCHIA exhibition aims to “transplant” the Czech and Slovak Pavilion from Venice to the Czech Republic, making it accessible to local audiences. This dislocation opens up possibilities to consider the pavilion in an entirely new context, free from its traditional representational role. As a result, it transforms into the object of study itself, shifting the focus from individual artworks to the exploration and contemplation of the exhibition as a whole. The exhibition not only explores the pavilion’s past and present but also focuses on the cultural and political developments in both countries, which are symbolically connected through the Venice pavilion following the division of Czechoslovakia. Throughout the exhibition, in collaboration with Divadlo 29, the pavilion will aim to produce and support Slovak projects in the performing arts.
