Filip Markiewicz. Paradiso Lussemburgo

With Paradiso Lussemburgo, Filip Markiewicz (b.1980, Luxembourg presents the Grand Duchy in the European and international context as a kind of model for Europe in which numerous nationalities and cultures meld together to make up the country's identity. "I want to give shape to a new, contemporary Luxembourgian mythos by means of film and performance. 
The Pavilion will have the atmosphere of a film set and be a mixture of creative laboratory and cultural centre with its programme of dance, performance, DJing, readings, architecture and music." The installation takes up all six halls of the Pavilion. The centre piece of the exhibition is formed by the film Voyage au bout d'une identité (Journey to the End of an Identity), whose title recalls the novel Voyage au bout de la nuit by Céline from 1932. The book had a great influence on modern French literature with its anarchistic, anti-nationalistic and anti-colonialistic stance. 

The title of the installation itself is reminiscent both of Dante's Paradise and Giuseppe Tornatore's film Cinema Paradiso, while also suggesting the idea of a tax paradise. The artist stresses that "it is a title that can be interpreted in very different ways. On the one hand I am interested in the mythological aspect, the legend, but on the other, in the aspect of migration. The different waves of immigration that have reached Luxembourg since the start of the 20th century have led to people seeing the country as a kind of paradise with regard to integration issues. It is also a clear allusion to the image that several foreign media outlets have given to the country of Luxembourg – that of a tax paradise, which is something I would like to challenge with a certain irony." 

Filip Markiewicz confronts visitors with a wide range of different media, such as visual displays, drawings, film material, and a speech corner, in his bid to draw them into the complex reality of the Grand Duchy, which maintains its rural roots while still being ultramodern, is one of the pioneers of EU expansion and has an established place in the global economy. The visitors in the Luxembourgian Pavilion can participate in the creative process like speakers at Hyde Park Corner or like karaoke singers. The Grand Duchy of Luxembourg is taking part in the Venice Art Biennale for the fourteenth time. 

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