Serbian Prime Minister, Ana Brnabić, visited the pavilion of Serbia at the 58th International Exhibition of Contemporary Art in Venice – Biennale Arte 2019, which was held this year under the slogan “May You Live in Interesting Times” on Friday, May 10th.

Curator of this year’s Biennale was Ralph Rugoff.

Rugoff explains that the title of the Biennale was inspired by the old Chinese curse, which ironically describes the times of insecurity and crises that are present today, in the times of false news and demolished values.

For the exhibition that took place in the central pavilion in Giardini and in the old Arsenale its curator, Ralph Rugoff, chose 79 artists from all over the world.

The Serbian Pavilion exists since 1938 when the Kingdom of Yugoslavia purchased it, and that was the year of its opening, on the island of Sveta Jelena in Giardini. The Yugoslav Pavilion was formed as part of a larger complex that included five identical exhibition rooms whose construction was made according to the plans of the Venetian architect Brenno del Giudice. The first installment commissioner was Milan Kašanin, director of the Museum of Prince Paul at that time. For the first exhibition in the National pavilion, Kašanin selected five painters and one sculptor – Matija Jama, Vladimir Becić, Ljubo Babić, Petar Dobrović, Milo Milunović and sculptor Tom Roksandić.

This year, Djordje Ozbolt was representing Serbia with the project “Regaining memory loss”.

The Prime Minister visited the setting in Serbian Pavilion, as well as other national pavilions. On this occasion, the Prime Minister attended the reception in Palazzo Nanni Bernardo for artists, world officials and academic community. It was organized by Djordje Ozbolt together with new, national platform Serbia creates.

New paintings and sculptures, created by Djordje Ozbolt and presented at the Biennale, address personal and collective memory. “Regaining memory loss” resulted as an answer to cultural and political heritage of the pavilion.

Ozbolt was born and grew up in Belgrade. He studied architecture at the University of Belgrade. In 1991, he moved to London where he currently lives and works.