A pair of time-sensitive installations from the Ukrainian contingent at this year’s Venice Architecture Biennale is rallying two contraposed notions of future rebuilding and present-day trauma together for the outside world to experience optimistically under one prescient exhibition aptly titled Before the Future.

The country’s first Biennale entry since 2014 is being presented in two locations by curators Iryna Miroshnykova, Oleksii Petrov, and Borys Filonenko, who say their contribution presents Ukraine as a “powerful participant in transforming the image of the future in Europe and the whole civilized world.”

Beginning first inside the Arsenale’s Sale d’Armi, the exhibition remakes an otherwise cavernous host space into a windowless, claustrophobic chasm within which visitors can experience the state of abandonment and eerie comfort that Ukrainians are daily inhabiting as they fight for a more vital and sustainably built peace-filled world to come.

From that embattled harbor and onto the outdoor installation enacted at the Giardini’s Spazio Esedra, the exhibition continues by presenting an earthworks which harkens the network of 10th century fortifications that were thrown back into service in aid of the capital’s defense during the dramatic first stages of the Russian military’s invasion last February. 

The curators urge understanding through shared narratives of a changing future. 

“By telling stories we have the opportunity to understand each other and share diverse visions of a changing future. Over four hundred days of living at war have shown that stories cannot be told without some line of defense. […] Today Ukrainian resistance offers, with its intrinsic complication, new and various concepts of the future, whose forms are outlined by the daily deeds of all involved. Such a future is based on cooperation between self-organization, personal contribution and state-building. This future is open to today’s sincere collaborations, and it is worth fighting for.”

The country has been at war for over 400 days now. 400 days in which the lineage of high culture, religious communities, and history have been steadfastly destroyed using methods that are beyond comprehension to the majority of participants and attendees whose mutual prosperity also relies on verifiable assurances of a better tomorrow.  

To this tenet, Mariana Oleskiv, the commissioner of the Ukraine installation, adds finally: “Through the Pavilion of Ukraine, we share our hopes for a future, free from aggression and war. It is a testament to the strength and determination of the Ukrainian people to build a better world. By taking part in Biennale Architettura 2023, Ukraine reaffirms its belief in the power of culture to unite nations and inspire positive change. We express gratitude to all friends who have stood by our side, providing humanitarian aid, political and economic support, and advocating for Ukraine's territorial integrity. And we thank La Biennale di Venezia for their generous support, which made the Ukrainian Pavilion possible this year.”                             

A series of public programs labeled as “encounters” will supplement the exhibition until the biennale closes on November 26th. The UNDP and Kyiv-based studio FORMA are two of its sponsors. More information about this year’s Ukrainian entry can be found via the pavilion’s Instagram.