Tina Gillen's Faraway So Close at Luxembourg Pavilion, Venice Biennale

Tina Gillen represents Luxembourg at the 59th Venice Biennale with Faraway So Close, an architectural and pictorial installation at the Luxembourg Pavilion, curated by Christophe Gallois (Mudam) and assisted by Luxembourg architects Polaris. The project, conceived between late 2019 and early 2020 before the pandemic, explores the relationship between interior space and the outside world, a theme that became crucial during lockdown. Gillen's work, including the central Rifugio—a white cabin inspired by a coastal shelter on the Opal Coast—and surrounding paintings, engages with architectural space and pictorial illusion. The installation, set in the Sale d'Armi at the Arsenale, features large-scale paintings such as Shelter (2018), Sealevel IV (2022), and Time Travel II (2022), arranged like film sets. Gillen draws on references from the Italian Renaissance, particularly Giovanni Bellini's St. Francis in the Desert (1475-1480), and her earlier works like Monkeycage (2012) at the Antwerp Zoo and Écho (2015) at Bozar, Brussels. The Rifugio, built from a wine crate model during lockdown, is an ambiguous space between a maquette and a private room, inviting viewers to reflect on their own reality and the climate crisis. The pavilion runs until November 2022.