Armenia may not attend 55th Venice Biennale

Armenia’s participation in the 2013 international biennale of Venice is still undecided.

Artists now accuse the Ministry of Culture for passiveness in the arrangement activities.

“Functions are fulfilled through the use of administrative resources, without specialists deciding the format of participation,” Lilit Sargsyan, an art critic, told a news conference on Thursday.

According to her, artists were given 26 days to submit their samples, the deadline being too tight to allow time for preparation.


“Even if artists periodically follow the website, they have no more than 26 days to get prepared,” she said, adding that the state’s function has to be limited to arrangement activities, such as purchasing a pavilion in Italy or thinking of measures to ensure the country’s participation.

But Sargsyan said that the Ministry had notified of a concert program. “To ensure the activeness of the pavilion work it is planned to accompany the exposition with a corresponding music,” she said, reading the website information.

Head of the Ministry’s Art Department Seyranuhi Geghamyan said they had offered an intervention, considering only the limited timeframes.

“I would like to declare officially that the Ministry did not get any official invitation from the Venice Biennale,” she said.

Addressing the artists attending the news conference, Geghamyan said Armenia’s non-participation in this year’s event would not be a crucial omission.

“It’s better not to attend at all than present oneself improperly,” she said.

The sides agreed to meet later to decide if it is still possible to change anything.