The Bomb Shelter Map of the Metropolitan city of Venice was developed to draw attention to the National Pavilion of Ukraine for the 60th Venice Biennale. Similar to the Ukrainian pavilion's exhibits, it emphasizes the importance of unity around universal human values and collective efforts. It asserts that only by standing together in opposition to the occupying forces of Russia we can halt the spread of war, making shelters redundant. The theme of the National Pavilion of Ukraine for the 60th Venice Biennale is titled "Net Making."

Net making is both a real-life practice and a metaphor. People in Ukraine and abroad, often strangers, gather to work together – weaving camouflage nets to protect people and equipment from the aggressor's attacks. Although this practice is tragically determined, it can appear as therapy or a social occasion in addition to benefiting the country. It is the epitome of self-organisation, horizontality, and joint action, which allows for the emancipation of all participants.

In each work, the artists acted as mediators and facilitators of communicative and artistic processes, working with different Ukrainian communities. In this framework of joint action and collectivity, the various experiences of Ukrainians have been collected within their homeland and beyond.

Following her long-time practice, Katya Buchatska created ‘Best Wishes’ by working with fifteen neurodiverse artists in an attempt to rethink the conventions of greetings and wishes – clichés that often operate under rules of language rather than the actual needs of human communication. In her work, Buchatska explores language transformations amid life-threatening conditions, emphasising the imperative to resist violence.

Oleksandr Burlaka's ‘Work’ embodies the traditional practices of home textile weaving, characteristic of Ukrainian culture, while simultaneously forming a backdrop for the narrative of personal experiences, recent events, and cataclysms.

‘Civilians. Invasion’ by Andrii Rachynskyi and Daniil Revkovskyi features archival videos collected from open sources, shot by civilians before and during the Russian invasion of Ukraine by the Russian army. Precarious and authentic footage made by witnesses risks being lost in the flux of video content, but collected together, these films attempt to communicate the people's experiences while serving as preserved evidence of crime.

“Comfort Work” by Andrii Dostliev and Lia Dostlieva ironically investigates the stereotypes and expectations laid upon refugees in Europe, playfully creating a safe space for Ukrainians with the experience of displacement to reclaim their agency and throw those stereotypes back in the faces of those who created them. The project involves Ukrainian communities across Europe who shaped the stereotypical representations of themselves with the help of local professional actors.

The consolidation of various experiences of otherness allows these projects to reinforce each other. While still operating within the logic of cultural creations, all four works are less the results of artistic imagination; instead, they are the manifestations of reality speaking vehemently for themselves. In a dialogue with this year's Biennale theme, ‘Foreigners Everywhere,’ the Ukrainian Pavilion project addresses the theme of otherness — through diverse personal experiences of war, emigration, and social integration.