The Ukrainian Pavilion at the 2026 Venice Biennale will present a project titled "Security Guarantees," focusing on the failure of international promises to protect Ukraine, specifically referencing the 1994 Budapest Memorandum. Artist Zhanna Kadyrova will exhibit her concrete sculpture, Origami Deer, which was evacuated from eastern Ukraine as the Russian frontline advanced. The work will be suspended from a crane on a truck along the lagoon, and the pavilion will include archival material and a video installation tracing the sculpture's journey.
The project uses the sculpture's forced displacement to mirror the uncertainty and trauma experienced by Ukrainians, transforming a pedestal made from a dismantled Soviet nuclear aircraft into a symbol of failed security pacts. The pavilion aims to leverage the Biennale's global platform to critique the inadequacy of international guarantees and highlight the ongoing impact of the war on Ukrainian cultural expression and daily life.