Venezia, 11 May. (askanews) – At the Biennale Arte 20026 the Pavilion of the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste presents Across Words edited by Loredana Pazzini Paracciani. In the center of the pavilion we find Tais Dona work by the ninety-year-old weaver and activist Veronica Pereira Maia, created to commemorate the 271 victims of the Santa Cruz massacre, which occurred in Dili on 12 November 1991 during the Indonesian occupation. While Tais is a traditional fabric made by hand, predominantly by women, characterized by patterns and shapesPereira Maia inscribed the names of the victims on each of the five panels. Illiterate herself, Pereira Maia used an approximation of the alphabet, translating oral knowledge, written language and cultural resilience into material form. For centuries, Timor-Leste’s intangible heritage has been transmitted verbally by over thirty distinct local languages and it is only in the last thirty years, from the 1999 independence referendum to the present day, that tetum prasa has gone from being an exclusively oral idiom to the official language for transcribing governmental, educational and literary activities. In dialogue with Tais Don, the audiovisual installations are presented: Cuale (Flow) by Etson Caminha and Fraze ne’ebé seidauk hotu (An Unfinished Sentence) by Juventino Madeira. Specially commissioned for the pavilion and created in profound harmony with each other, these two works explore cultural identity through a sonic and visual journey into the polyphony of languages and communication forms of Timor-Leste. Loredana Pazzini Paracciani.: “By bringing together artists belonging to different generations, the pavilion aims to decolonize the observer’s gaze, orienting itself towards a process of understanding East Timor understood not as a static entity but as a constantly evolving society.”
The Latvian Pavilion presents a new work by the interdisciplinary artist duo Mareunrol’s, Rolands Peterkops and Marite Masti a-Peterkopain dialogue with alternative fashion designer Bruno Birmanis and the archives of the Untamed Fashion Assemblies, a series of experimental fashion, art and performance events founded by Birmanis, which took place in Riga between 1990 and 1999. Curated by Inga Lace and Adomas Narkevicius, the exhibition connects past and present, highlighting utopian thinking in moments of transition. It questions how collective imagination, desire and visibility are produced when political and economic systems change. The installation is conceived as a backstage, a space for preparation, invisible work and improvisation. The coat hanger, an omnipresent object in every backstage, becomes a containment device and narrative architecture, while recurring motifs such as birds and textile sculptures evoke memories of flight, risk and fragility.
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