INTERVIEW – Pavel Brăila: We need to create a different world where it is not who is in power, but who is right
Pavel Brăila, the artist representing the Republic of Moldova in its first participation in the Venice Art Biennale, talks in an interview for Curatorial about his latest exhibition, open at the Bucharest gallery Gaep until April, about “the drama we live, with all the wars around us”, and about the mission of artists to reflect reality.
The exhibition “Echoes of Harmony and Silent Cries” includes glass sculptures, ceramics and paintings, a series of works that encapsulates grief and solidarity. He fluidly associates mythological elements, immemorial stories and ancient rituals with the major geopolitical events of the moment.
At the Venice Art Biennale, which runs from May 9 to November 22, Brăila proposes “In the thousandth and second night”,aproject curated by Adelina Luft (Romania) which will be presented in the Santa Veneranda space, part of the Chiesa dei Santi Geremia e Lucia in Venice.
A carpet ensemble floats between the floor and the vault of the church, supported by drones. A familiar object – linked to home, care and continuity – the carpet is carried by a technology usually associated with surveillance, control, and now armed conflict. The installation symbolically reverses roles: the drone no longer demarcates and no longer follows, but supports. For a moment, a technology of domination becomes a gesture of protection, and domestic memory acquires the power to hold a shared space aloft.
Pavel Braila (b. 1971, lives and works in Chisinau) has participated in numerous international art exhibitions and film festivals. He is one of the few artists selected twice at documenta (documenta 11, 2002, Kassel, and documenta 14, 2017, Kassel and Athens). He has also participated in Manifesta 10 (2014, St. Petersburg) and created the artistic concept for the first Moldova Pavilion at the World Expo (2015, Milan).
His film ‘Definitively Unfinished’ won an award at the Oberhausen International Film Festival 2009 and in 2003, he was included by Phaidon among the world’s 100 best artists (‘Cream 3’).
Over the years, his works have been presented in solo and group exhibitions at the Neue Nationalgalerie (Berlin), Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen (Rotterdam), Tate Modern (London), The Renaissance Society (Chicago), Kölnischer Kunstverein, Moderna Museet (Stockholm) and other institutions. Recent exhibitions include participation in the Art Encounters Biennial (Timisoara), a solo retrospective at Lutnița (Chisinau and Ustia), and shows at ERSTE Foundation (Vienna), Neue Galerie Graz and Centrala (Birmingham). Prior to “Echoes of Harmony and Silent Cries”, Gaep presented the solo exhibition “New Year’s Dissections” (2017).
Picture from Pavel Brăila’s solo exhibition “Echoes of Harmony and Silent Cries”, open at Gaep until April 4, 2026; photo: Alexandru Paul
“Echoes of Harmony and Silent Cries” is presented these days by Gaep Gallery. How did this exhibition take shape? What is the common denominator of the series of objects on display?
Pavel Brăila: The point of connection between the three series of works is the drama we are living, with all the wars around us, closer or farther from us. From the poster ‘Peace is when they are shooting somewhere else’ onwards, made for the Kyiv Perennial Biennial in February 2024, all my works are related to what is happening in Ukraine. In the meantime, there have been other wars. We live in a new, profoundly different world, and we will never return to the laws that governed us before February 2022. In the Gaep exhibition, the message is that we must stop the war. At the Venice Biennale, the message will be taken one step further – we need to create a different world where the rules are respected and where who is in power is not in charge, but who is right.
Some of them are part of the series “Times When News Is Faster Than Bullets“, presented last year at the Art Encounters Biennial in Timisoara. You told us then that the series started with the outbreak of war in Ukraine, and about Donald Trump winning his second term in the White House, that “so much hope has been lost” for peace negotiations. In the current geopolitical context, do you maintain this view?
Pavel Braila: Absolutely. We lost all hope with Donald Trump’s second term. These days a scandal has erupted over Russia’s participation in the Venice Biennale, but no one questions the legitimacy of the United States’ participation. The war the United States has started in Iran is also a war without reason. Or at least the American administration fails to formulate one. The only thing guiding the president is the stock market. Ethics are irrelevant.
Image from Pavel Brăila’s solo exhibition “Echoes of Harmony and Silent Cries”, open at Gaep until April 4, 2026; photo: curatorial
Do you think that artists in general are a voice that matters in society, in terms of world conflicts, social movements?
Pavel Braila: The artists’ voice is a barometer. For some it matters, for others it doesn’t. I believe that artists are the ones who feel the pressure changes around them and that their mission is to reflect reality. Can they change anything? I don’t know. Maybe there have been such cases in history, but few.
By representing the Republic of Moldova in its first participation in the Venice Art Biennale, you will be sounding the alarm about a world in which security is fragile. How do you hope viewers will relate to your project?
Pavel Braila: I would like to tug at his heartstrings. It is indeed a wake-up call because we live in a time when we have no guarantee that a drone won’t fall on us or that another president won’t start another war. We, those of us in the middle of hotbeds of conflict, feel this acutely. I hope everyone else does too.
What does it mean, from a personal point of view, to represent your home country at the most important art event in the world?
Pavel Brăila: I am happy to represent Moldova and to have a good project, thanks to which the voice of this small country will be heard. And it will be heard correctly, I believe: as a cry in line with the urgency of the times.
What are the biggest challenges in preparing for an event of the Biennale’s scale?
Pavel Brăila: Very short time and money. For example, at the moment we have money for one custodian, but we need at least two. We will find solutions. At the moment, I am optimistic.
How do you think this experience will influence your artistic career in the long term?
Pavel Braila: I have participated in big art events before. After my first participation in documenta in 2002, the art world got to know about me, I received invitations from museums all over the world. At my second selection at documenta in 2017, I expected the same reaction. It didn’t come. So I can’t predict. Participation does not guarantee anything. I hope that the Moldova Pavilion will be mentioned, though. Intuitively, I feel that our pavilion is so connected to the current context that it will not go unnoticed.
Main photo: Works from the series “Times when news is faster than bullets” (2026), in Pavel Brăila’s exhibition at Gaep © Pavel Brăila; credit: Alexandru Paul
