![\"\"](\"https://backend.artreview.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/1.-Pavel-Brăila_Photo-credit_-Sorin-Florea-1230x1676.png\")
“Now, I really want to scream. I don’t want to just say something – I want to scream”
\n\n\n\nArtReview sent a questionnaire to artists and curators exhibiting in and curating the various national pavilions of the 2026 Venice Biennale, the responses to which will be published daily in the leadup to and during the Venice Biennale, which runs from 9 May through 22 November.
\n\n\n\nPavel Brǎila is representing Moldova; the pavilion is at Santa Veneranda.
\n\n\n\nCelebrating Visions. Versace partners with ArtReview to share stories from the 2026 Venice Biennale.
\n\n\n\nAR Tell ArtReview what you plan to exhibit in Venice. What has influenced or inspired you?
\n\n\n\nPavel Brǎila The idea for the installation came to me when we started working on the application. It was quite complicated at the beginning but it slowly crystallised. I’ve always had this idea that if you want to show something at the Venice Biennale, you need one strong installation: something that grips you immediately and really makes you feel the space. I was already working on a project about war, Echoes of Harmony and Silent Cries (2026), which I had presented in Bucharest, but it couldn’t fill the space. Then the idea of flying carpets came to me and I realised I could fill the whole space with them.
\n\n\n\nIt comes from the situation we are living in today. For the past four years, war has been constantly present when watching or reading the news. Ukraine, Israel and Gaza, and now conflicts in more and more places. I wouldn’t call it inspiration. I don’t want to keep making works about war. I want to make works about peace. But this work was pushed by the circumstances we are living in.
\n\n\n\nAR In what ways (if at all) does your work relate to the theme of the Biennale exhibition, In Minor Keys?
\n\n\n\nPB You know, it was probably a kind of coincidence because I was never thinking in terms of minor keys while working. For me, any key can be minor or major. When we started working on the project, I began testing the flying carpets and hearing the sound of the propellers accelerating. That sound immediately brings you into minor keys. But that wasn’t my intention. I was thinking more about making a project that reflects the outside reality. The idea that it would become a sound installation only came at the end.
\n\n\n\nAR Why is the Venice Biennale still important, if at all?
\n\n\n\nPB For me, it’s a very nice event: you go, you see art from all over the world. My first visit was exactly 25 years ago, in 2001. At that time, it felt like an art festival, like a huge fiesta. I still think it’s a super nice city to visit. You meet friends, you meet people.
\n\n\n\nToday, it’s different for me. I never dreamt of being in the Venice Biennale because Moldova didn’t have a pavilion. I imagined that maybe one day I would be invited to participate in another pavilion, by a curator or something like that. But then I realised that many pavilions require you to apply for them.
\n\n\n\nIt happened differently with the Moldova Pavilion. I was somehow nominated. What is important for me now is that I can represent the voice of my country, and that it aligns with my own. It’s an important platform to say what I’m feeling. And now, I really want to scream. I don’t want to just say something – I want to scream.
\n\n\n\nAR What role does a national pavilion play at a time of increasing confrontational nationalisms? Is it about expressing difference or commonality?
\n\n\n\nPB I don’t express any nationalism with my work because nowadays everything is so interconnected that there is no place for it. I was born in the Soviet Union, when internationalism was always put forward. I don’t want to romanticise that period at all, but we had all those images back then – flags that stood for different regions – that were always about freedom and peace. That was the visual language of my childhood. Now unfortunately this image has faded away.
\n\n\n\nTo me, representing Moldova means representing a part of the world. My work is not about Moldova directly. It speaks about the world: one we have already lost and that we have to build anew.
\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https://backend.artreview.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/1.-Pavel-Brăila_Magic-Carpet-over-the-Grand-Canal_drone-carpet-2026_photo-credits_On-The-Second-and-Thousand-Night-archive-1230x820.png\")
AR Who, for you, is the most important artist (in any discipline) that your country has produced?
\n\n\n\nPB We have several artists that I love very much, but to me, of course, the most important is my mentor: Mark Verlan. Unfortunately, he passed away during the pandemic. For me, he was the Picasso of Moldova and he remains one of its most important artists.
\n\n\n\nI could also mention Valentina Rusu Ciobanu or Lazăr Dubinovschi. And from our time, Ghenadie Popescu.
\n\n\n\nAR What is something you want people to know about your nation that they might not know already?
\n\n\n\nPB It’s a magical place. Perhaps something like Shambhala, a mythical kingdom believed to be a hidden paradise of harmony, enlightenment and wisdom. A place where the sky protects all artists.
\n\n\n\nAR Given that you are exhibiting in a national pavilion, is there something (a quality or an issue or attitude) that distinguishes the art of that nation from that of others? That makes it particular? Are there specific contexts that it responds to? Or do you think that art is a universal language that goes beyond social, political or geographic boundaries?
\n\n\n\nPB Moldova is a very small country. Before February 2022 the same rules applied to everyone regardless of whether they were big or small. I mean equality, democracy and so on. Being small didn’t mean you would be punished or more easily wounded.
\n\n\n\nBut since February 2022, being a small country makes you vulnerable to intimidation. With the installation that I am preparing, I want to say that we have to create a new narrative: a dream of the one thousand and second night. Even as a small country, we have the right to be listened to and respected.
\n\n\n\nMost of my works are related to Moldova. I approach this subject with nostalgia, with care, with love, often using irony and humor. Some of the carpets in this piece originate from Moldova. But in the end, the work is a cry for the whole world.
\n\n\n\nI am answering this interview in March, and I don’t know what will happen by May. With the speed at which things are developing, I don’t know where we will be. That is why I want to speak for all nations.
\n\n\n\nAR What, other than art, are you looking forward to seeing – or doing – while you are in Venice?
\n\n\n\nPB As I said, I first came to the Venice Biennale in 2001. Then, Aline Bouvy, Robert Garnett, Manuel Reader and I were students at Jan van Eyck [Academie]. This year, Aline Bouvy is representing Luxembourg. Robert Garnett wrote the text for Aline’s show and will also be in Venice. Manuel Reader is doing the design for the Ecuador Pavilion.
\n\n\n\nWhen we came in 2001, all of us stayed together in Chioggia. What I really want is for the four of us to go back to Chioggia and find that very nice restaurant, which was called Buono Pesce. That’s what I’m looking forward to.
\n\n\n\nAR Could you give us a brief overview of your average working day while creating your presentation in Venice?
\n\n\n\nPB It’s crazy. Every day when I wake up, I already have several tasks waiting. First of all, from my accountant. Since this is an international project, we need to take care of every payment and keep track of taxes. Then, I have to track everything we want to buy, install and deliver.
\n\n\n\nIt’s such a hectic moment. For example, today we bought two carpets from Baku and I’m looking for a courier to bring them from Baku to Chișinău. At the same time, I’m searching for another courier to deliver other equipment.
\n\n\n\nOn top of that, many journalists are calling and wanting to meet with me. Somehow, I’ve become quite famous in Moldova and people ask me for interviews but I don’t have the time. My father, who is 88, has been checking in to see if everything is alright because I promised him I would visit every day but I haven’t been able to keep my promise. Today, I made it.
\n\n\n\nIt’s crazy, but also interesting.
\n\n\n\nAR Can art really change the world?
\n\n\n\nPB No, but it can make us – those who are creating and those who are interested in art – happier. To me, art is like a compass. At least, good art is. It can give you direction if you can decode it. It can guide you when you’re upset, when you’re traumatised, when you’re happy, or when you want to love.
\n\n\n\nThe 61st Venice Biennale runs 9 May through 22 November 2026
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