Human Rights Pavilion

During the 58th Venice Biennale in 2019, Koen Vanmechelen heralded the birth of the Human Rights Pavilion, an evolving artwork that will take shape over the course of two years. In 2021, Vanmechelen will present his completed OPUS at the next Venice Biennale, as a platform for a recurring international human rights pavilion.

The project came about in collaboration with international partners: the Global Campus of Human Rights, Fondazione Berengo and the MOUTH Foundation.

Roaming the planet, the pavilion-to-be will take shape through contact with persons and organisations involved with or interested in human rights. At all locations, encounters and conversations will be encouraged via so-called SoTO (Survival of The Other) dialogues in Cosmocafes. At the end of 2020, all input will be reassembled into a unifying OPUS. This collective memorial will be submitted to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, the European Commission and the president and curator of the 59th Venice Biennale.

Find out more about this project on the website for the Human Rights Pavilion