The Pope visited the Venice Biennale and called for art that should serve as a refuge against “violence and discrimination.”

The Pontiff has opened an intense dialogue with artists at the Biennale’s Vatican pavilion, during which he compared art to the “refuge cities” described in the Bible, “institutions that defy regimes of violence and discrimination in order to create forms of human belonging. can be constructed.” To recognize, include, protect, embrace all, starting from the last.

He told that the purpose of these places has been established since ancient times. deuteronomic code “To avoid the shedding of innocent blood and reduce the blind desire for revenge, ensure the protection of human rights, and explore paths to reconciliation.”

sanctuary city

«It will be important for different artistic practices to establish themselves everywhere as a kind of network of sanctuary cities, together ridding the world of empty and meaningless contradictions that fuel racism, xenophobia, inequality, imbalance ecological and AporophobiaThis horrible neologism that means ‘fear of the poor,'” he offered them.

As “behind these contradictions there is always rejection of another», He urges them to imagine “cities that do not yet exist on maps”, “cities where no human being is considered a stranger”. Following the motto of the Biennale, which was titled “Feeling foreigners everywhere”, he proposed “Feeling brothers everywhere”.

Some artists exhibiting their works in the Vatican Pavilion listened to him, as did film directors. marco peregolebanese simon fattal or brazilian Sonia GomesThe hanging statues of which were in the same room from which the Pope spoke and forced the visitor to look up. These attractive, brightly colored shapes produce cocoons of silkworms that will one day emerge as butterflies; But these are made from pieces of clothing of housewives, prostitutes and employees.

educate the look

Looking at them, the Pope has highlighted the ability of art to “educate the perspective” so that it is neither “authoritarian nor turns everything into objects, but also neither indifferent nor superficial.” The adjective you searched for is «aim,

“Artists are called to move forward.” Today more than ever it is important that they know how to differentiate between art and the market. Of course, the market promotes and canonizes the artist, but There is a risk of ‘vampirization’ of creativitySteal innocence and coldly instruct what to do,” he warned them.

However, Francisco allowed himself to suggest an artistic subject. Taking advantage of the fact that they were in Giudecca Women’s Prison, highlighted that “there is a joy and a pain that come together in a unique way in woman that we should listen to, because they have something important to teach us.” Interestingly, he cites artists with difficult relationships with the church. eat frida or former nun corita kent, Also to the sculptor of giant spiders louise bourgeois, She said, “I sincerely hope that contemporary art can open our eyes, helping us to properly value the contribution of women as co-protagonists of the human adventure.”

provocation

Then he dismissed them with a provocation, a phrase from the Gospel, “What did you go to see?” Let us keep this question in our hearts. “It propels us into the future,” he said goodbye.

There were also cardinals next to Francis jose tolentino de mendonca, author of some successful poems and plays in Portugal. As Prefect of the Department of Education and Culture, he is behind the Vatican’s participation in the Biennale. In his greeting to the Pope, he acknowledged that “there have been ambiguities and even harsh tensions in the history of the Church’s relationship with the arts, caused by the Church’s difficulty in understanding and accepting the autonomy of art, which is not really the case.” Accept “Act merely as a sounding board for the words of others.”

“We have not looked for the most comfortable artists for this pavilion. we didn’t want make a ditch Nor separate yourself from your vision. On the contrary, the invitation is for each individual to see with his own eyes,” he assured.

‘with my own eyes’

He Pope Francisco I have been able to see some proposals for this pavilion in Venice, titled ‘Through my own eyes’ and because of its location in the women’s prison, where 82 prisoners are serving their sentence, there is a message. Visitors will have to park their mobile phones at the entrance, making it easier for them to contemplate the works in peace. The prisoners have collaborated with the artists, and every day they guide hundreds of visitors to their rooms and personally explain them about the exhibition.

a massive mural of maurizio cattelan Titled ‘Father’, it depicts the worn out feet of a man forced to walk barefoot. One of the first works that visitors encounter is by the collective’Claire Fontaine, It is a black eye, similar to the symbol that warns about unpleasant images on social networks. Topic ‘sensitive material‘, gives the example of refusing to see people serving sentences.

Inside, in a hallway, Lebanese woman simon fattal He has engraved on enamel lava plates poems about freedom written by prisoners, but the compositions are composed in such a way that they are difficult to read, just as it is difficult to hear the voices of their authors. French too Claire Taboret Proposes a mosaic made up of the innocent faces of girls and boys, and then informs us that they are photographs of prisoners, their mothers, and their children.

The truth is that Francisco, if not by artistic intent, is certainly provocative, Have avoided taking the Gondola During his five-hour trip to the city of canals and forced him to look back at this unusual place in Venice, so that everyone could “see it with their own eyes.”