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First Palestinian Participation at the 53 rd Venice Biennale Perhaps the day will come and a visit to the Palestinian Pavilion will be just like a visit to other national pavilion throughout Venice and the Biennale Gardens . 2009 will likely be remembered in the history of the Palestinian people as marking an important achievement , eliciting hope for a saner existence in the future Mikdadi ( a Palestinian living in Berkley , USA ) , who is well-versed the discourse of contemporary art . Palestinian artists still lack safe , permanent place , whether in their everyday life or in their artistic practice , a situation which is inevitably articulated their works . Mikdadi stresses " the chronic impermanence , " condition which the artists " surmount with creative resistance , " by challenging the political , economic , and social reality . Seven Palestinian artists are featured in the exhibition : Taysir Batniji , Shadi HabibAllah , Sandi Hilal and Alessandro i , Emily Jacir , Jawad Al Malhi , and Khalil Rabah All seven were commissioned to create new art works especially for the pavilion . They were " chosen for their outstanding commitment their art as well as their ability to bridge local and global themes . " Most of the participating artists do not live in Palestine , in exile . Emily Jacir ( born in Chicago ; lives and works between New York and Ramallah ) intended to create a work at the Ca d'Oro vaporetto station , but her project remained unimplemented . In pavilion , however , she exhibited a publication describing intent : creating a dialogue of cultures within architecture and urban design . Taysir Batniji ( born in Gaza ; currently lives and works in Paris , previously in Gaza ) created an installation comprising a room reminiscent of a standard residential white cube . One of the most touching pieces in this year ' s Biennale , work alone raised the Palestinian Pavilion to the level of artistic excellence . Excitement , pain , poverty , and beauty came together to form a human statement which requires no further explanation . Batniji exerted himself to sharpen hundreds of red pencils . He scattered the outcomes — the wood shavings ejected from the sharpener in the shape of tiny pyramids — evenly yet randomly on the floor of the room which was painted white from floor to ceiling . The " room" itself had three built walls , and viewers observed the work through the fourth , nonexistent wall . A rope stretched between the two facing walls created a barrier between the viewers and the work . On the third wall , facing the viewer , Batniji hung a black-and-white photograph combination of the Palestinian Pavilion and its location in Venice ' s Giudecca island was symbolic , accurate , fateful , and mainly — exciting . It was quite expected that the opening of the Pavilion would be a festive event , the legitimization of a political stand which recognizes Palestine as an independent entity , as a state . The Israeli Pavilion has been standing in the Giardini for several decades now ( it was constructed after the establishment the State ) next to the national pavilions of all the Western countries , and has long been a part of our national pride as a democratic , culture-supporting country . Against this backdrop , news about the official opening of the Palestinian Pavilion June 7 , 2009 on the island named Giudecca ( the island of Jews ) — links us , Israelis , to the Palestinian people naturally well as symbolically . Even though as I write these words dispute between the two peoples seems to have reached irresolvable deadlock , we are tied together by a single fate a single dream , to live our lives — whether together or separately —in the Middle East . Like the Palestinians , we Israelis and think that we have no other land . The sense of personal responsibility for the existence both nations accompanies my thoughts and actions in the field of visual art , to which I am deeply committed . The differentiation between the Palestinian Pavilion and the Israeli Pavilion is another step toward recognition of the Palestinian entity as a separate state , with a pavilion featuring art which reflects a unique culture . The location of the Palestinian Pavilion a convent on the San Cosma Square in Giudecca created a symbolic triangle of the three religions : Islam , Christianity , and Judaism . The official presence of Palestinian art at the Biennale was yet another step , an existential condition , intended to lead sanity . It was an especially moving , festive moment , capable bringing about the international art world ' s recognition of the birth of yet another state in the Middle East , with a pavilion its own . The title of the exhibition , " Palestine c / 0 Venice , " alludes states of impermanence . It was selected by the curator , Salwa
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