Ilit Azoulay Reorients Israel's Venice Pavilion from West to East with 'Queendom' Project

Ilit Azoulay is representing Israel at the 59th Venice Biennale with her project 'Queendom' in the national pavilion located in the Giardini. The exhibition, developed with curator Shelley Harten, features large panoramic photomontages, a collaborative soundwork, and architectural interventions that challenge the pavilion's structure and purpose. Azoulay's research-based photographic practice deconstructs and recomposes perceived realities, specifically targeting male-dominated and national systems of knowledge transfer. She aims to shift the pavilion's orientation from a Western, Eurocentric narrative toward a contemporary Middle Eastern and transregional context, countering its Bauhaus architecture built in the early 1950s to project a modernistic, progressive image. The artist views the Biennale, running from 23 April to 27 November 2022, as a crucial platform for international artistic dialogue despite its flawed national framework. She acknowledges the political boycotts facing many Israeli artists and sees the pavilion as an important opportunity for visibility. Azoulay's artistic influences extend beyond visual art to Middle Eastern music, drawing from her family's archive of regional vocal artists. She recalls being moved by Massimiliano Gioni's 2013 main exhibition 'The Encyclopedic Palace' and its focus on artists conveying information and stories. Azoulay looks forward to the content that emerges post-opening and how art can remain relevant at a current threshold.