Baku, May 16, AZERTAC

Azerbaijan is represented at the International Art Exhibition 57th Venice Biennale organized with the support of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation.

The Azerbaijan national pavilion for the 57th International Art Exhibition – la Biennale di Venezia hosts the exhibition Under One Sun. The Art of Living Together.

The aim of the exhibition is to find out an own artistic contemporary interpretation of the cultural diversity of Azerbaijan.

Works by Hypnotica, a visual performance art group, and by installation artist Elvin Nabizade lay bare Azerbaijan’s cultural and ethnic diversity.

Under One Sun. The Art of Living Together reveals Azerbaijan’s amazing and kaleidoscopic culture, from its origins and traditions to its diverse manifestations today. In Azerbaijan many people from very different backgrounds have lived alongside each other since time immemorial. Within a major region that combines European and Eastern civilizations, it is unavoidable that religion, philosophy, and political theories confront each other. The peaceful cohabitation of different cultures in Azerbaijan and the preservation of the best traditions of Eastern hospitality spark wonder in this age of globalization, ethnic conflicts, intolerance, and aggression. The metaphorical title Under One Sun. The Art of Living Together, explains the subjects of this exhibition, focusing on the cultural and ethnical diversity in Azerbaijan. It is mostly about the tolerance that has developed among these groups over the years. Furthermore, it demonstrates Azerbaijan’s continuous effort towards a peaceful solution to the Armenian-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

At the entrance of the pavilion the visual performance group HYPNOTICA has set up twenty monitors showing an ethnic minority speaking its own language. Personal interviews merge into one another on the screens. The unity that is created through the text and the language, and that is especially emphasized by an anthropomorphic sculpture, reflects the different ethnic groups living together in one country.

In parallel, the artist Elvin Nabizade presents an installation named after the exhibition’s title that fills an entire room on the first floor. Cultural diversity is also his main theme. He shows approximately fifty Saz, traditional instruments that resemble string instruments, in the form of a rainbow. Symbolically, it is not only the act of speaking, but also the common language of music that connects the various minorities.

The exhibition points out the ethnic diversity in Azerbaijan and the harmony between its cultures. Respect for the many different origins and traditions of these cultures have guaranteed their survival up to the present day.