The exhibition, prepared by the Isolation Foundation, is housed in two small halls next to the headquarters of the Biennale and Piazza San Marco. Thematically, it can be included in a number of exhibitions dedicated to architecture and conflict at the International Architectural Exhibition in Venice. In addition to Eyal Weizman, who showed his next exercise on the topic of "urbicide" and "forensic architecture", this is also the study by Robert Ian Van Pelt and the University of Waterloo from the Canadian province of Ontario on the buildings of Auschwitz as evidence in the investigation of Nazi crimes.
However, the pavilion of Ukraine - albeit unofficial (it does not have the status of a "national participant", at the same time it was supported by the country's Foreign Ministry) - looks at the problem more broadly. The focus of the curators is not only Donetsk and Mariupol as cities separated by a front line, but also their fate and character as industrial cities, where leading enterprises determine the lives of most residents from cradle to grave. In a postindustrial society, such an orientation, even "dependence" cannot but have a negative effect on cities and townspeople, and cast doubt on their prosperous future. The creators of the exhibition suggest that the ongoing military conflict in Donbass can serve as a catalyst for deeper reflection on the future fate of the entire region, a kind of "rusty belt" of Ukraine.
Among the components of the exposition there is a documentary film "Centralllurgy" dedicated to Mariupol. Its authors, the Polish architect Romea Muryn and the Portuguese filmmaker Francisco Loba, met with a wide variety of characters, including the mayor and chief architect. Their stories form the image of the "professional deformation" of the city, which, with some amendments, can be imposed on many settlements of the former USSR.
Due to the danger of reprisals against them, it was impossible to make such a tape with the residents of Donetsk, therefore the form of an anonymous survey was chosen - about their self-identification, the point of view of their city - their own and the mass media, etc.
It is important to note that the Izolyatsia Foundation, which organized the exhibition, was founded in Donetsk in 2010, but in 2014 was forced to go into exile in Kiev, where in the building of the Kiev Shipyard he created
"Creative community" IZONE.
