“THE FALLING SHADOW OF MRIIA ON THE GIARDINI GARDENS”: AN ART ANALYSIS OF THE PROJECT DURING THE RUSSIAN-UKRAINIAN WAR

Abstract

The study is a retrospective presentation of the curatorial project «The Falling Shadow of Mriia on the Giardini Gardens» at the 58th Venice Biennale (Italy). According to the concept, the world’s largest aircraft, An-225 Mriia, was supposed to fly over the pavilions of the Biennale, the most famous exhibition of contemporary art as an embodiment of the mentioned project, casting its shadow on the visitors. However, this idea, which gained a mythical status, has been never realized. The allegorical «shadow» of Mriia and the project itself persisted in Ukraine’s artistic circles long after the Biennale concluded, sparkling debates over whether an unmaterialized and mythologized project deserved the status of a national art initiative. Even during its preparation under the auspices of the Venice Biennale Commissioner, the Ministry of Culture of Ukraine, the project generated a strong response among artists, particularly the creative group «Free People», who represented it, and within the broader public. Following the opening of the Ukrainian National Pavilion and the conclusion of the 59th Venice Biennale, the project faced harsh criticism for not meeting expectations due to various subjective reasons. However, from the perspective of a five-year period that have elapsed since the project, it now deserves a slightly different interpretation. After the destruction of Mriia by russian forces in 2022, the work of the creative group «Free People» is no longer seen as a controversial art project but as a historical one, featuring the image of a destroyed symbol of Ukrainian national strength. Thus, the purpose of the article is to analyze the curatorial project «The Falling Shadow of Mriia on the Giardini Gardens», which represented Ukraine at the 58th Venice Biennale, in the context of its relevance during the russian-Ukrainian war. The research methodology is based on analytical and historical-chronological methods. The scientific novelty is that the Ukrainian art community has reinterpreted the project’s significance, shifting from a negative perception to a positive one after the destruction of the An-225 Mriia. Conclusions. The article establishes the resonance caused by the project within the art community and its current relevance as a historical project that introduced the image of now-destroyed record-breaking aircraft Mriia into the history of the Venice Biennale. It was emphasized that the project raised a number of issues for the general public, including: the problem of communication between the state and artists; mutual influence of power and art; society’s readiness/lack of readiness for artistic experiments through generation and dissemination of deliberately fictitious narratives; the use of a national symbol of strength to promote the Ukrainian contemporary art on the international stage.