Skopje, 19 April 2024 (MIA) - The Macedonian pavilion at the 60th International Art Exhibition has opened to showcase the transmedial and transnarrative project INTER SPEM ET METUM (Between Hope and Fear) by artist Slavica Janeshlieva and the National Gallery of the Republic of North Macedonia, as the country's official respresentative at the 2024 Venice Biennale.

The location of the pavilion is at the Scuola dei Laneri, and it is open for visitors is every day, except Mondays, from 11 am to 7 pm. 

"Once again our cultural wealth is at the world-famous cultural event, the Venice Biennale. In the context of this year's theme "Foreigners Everywhere", Slavica Janeshlieva's work entitled "Between Hope and Fear" / "Inter Spem et Metum" deals with the aspect of the foreigner, of the "other", seen through many layered levels of anticipation of the context," said the commissioner of the project and director of the National Gallery of North Macedonia, Dita Starova Qerimi.  

The curator is Ana Frangovska, curator advisor at the National Gallery. The project is supported by the Ministry of Culture. 

According to Starova Qerimi, the work has already captured the attention of national and international media including Art News, E-flux, It's Liquid, Art Review, and interviews have also been scheduled with the artist with journalists of foreign and local media. Such interest, she added, further confirms that the country has artists who are worth fighting for, who need to be supported.

Starova Qerimi expressed gratitude for the support to the Ministry of Culture and Culture Minister Bisera Kostadinovska-Stojchevska, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Minister Bujar Osmani.

According to Frangovska, the transmedial and transnarrative project INTER SPEM ET METUM by Slavica Janeshlieva represents a visually cleansed and conceptually envisaged spatial installation, which casts us into the civilizational debris in a rather sensitive and imaginative manner. 

"Through multidimensional media platforms and materials, such as feathers, LED neon signs, projections, and mirrors, Janeshlieva launches us into several conceptual-narrative matrices, where she urges us to face the feeling of being a stranger, the one present everywhere: in me, in you, in them, in us… Namely, she challenges us with acceptance or non-acceptance of the distinct labels from the ones familiar and ordinary to the masses; encompassing differences based on gender, sexual orientation, appearance, demeanor, attitude, illness, nationality, religion, language, political orientation…." Frangovska says. 

The Venice Art Biennale 2024 opens to the public on April 20 and runs through November 24, 2024. 

Photo: Robert Jankuloski