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Young European Artist Trieste Contemporanea Award 2023
Mark Chehodaiev
Welcome to Khandwala
curated by Alice Debianchi

finissage Saturday 8 June 2024 at 5 pm
Studio Tommaseo, via del Monte 2/1, Trieste

5 pm presentation of the exhibition catalogue with the curator Alice Debianchi and the artist Mark Chehodaiev
From 5.30 pm to 8 pm collection of food, medicines, and clothes with the Comunità di Sant’Egidio FVG, the association Linea d’Ombra and the organization No Name Kitchen Trieste

Exhibition view, Welcome to Khandwala, 2024, photograph by Agnese Divo (courtesy Trieste Contemporanea)

Studio Tommaseo is pleased to announce that on Saturday 8 June 2024 it will host the finissage of the solo exhibition of Mark Chehodaiev, winner of the Young European Artist Trieste Contemporanea Award 2023, awarded every two years since 1999 to artists under thirty from Central Eastern Europe.
The exhibition, curated by Alice Debianchi, presents an unedited project that reflects the current situation of the Silos in Trieste. The artworks are the result of a trip that the young Ukrainian artist made to Khandwala – Silos emblem – a parallel city located near the Porto Vecchio of Trieste and populated by over two hundred people. In Pashto – an Iranian language spoken in Afghanistan and Pakistan – “khandwala” means “broken house” or “house in ruins”, but in Trieste it is the arrival point for migrants travelling along the Balkan route: starting from Asia and travelling overland along a long and hostile route between Greece, Albania, Croatia and Slovenia, they arrive in Trieste, a crossroads and point of departure for other European countries.
In the exhibition space of Studio Tommaseo displays a series of souvenirs made by Chehodaiev after entering the Silos in Trieste – a huge ruined building without electricity or running water – will be on display: “good memory” plates to preserve the memory of the site and tell the story of its transformation into a shelter.

At 5 pm the curator Alice Debianchi, together with the artist Mark Chehodaiev, will present the catalogue of the exhibition Welcome to Khandwala. Then, from 5.30 pm to 8 pm, Trieste Contemporanea, in collaboration with the Comunità di Sant’Egidio FVG, the association Linea d’Ombra and the organization No Name Kitchen Trieste, will organize a collection of food, medicines and clothes. The goods collected will be donated and distributed to migrants who arrive in the city of Trieste after travelling the Balkan route and find shelter in the Silos.
Donors will receive as gifts (subject to availability) the souvenirs by Mark Chehodaiev exhibited at Studio Tommaseo.

Donated items:
Canned pulses (chickpeas, beans, lentils);
Shelf-stable milk;
Seed oil;
Tomato puree;
Basmati Rice;
Black tea and spices (Biryani Masala, Cinnamon, Cardamom, Cloves, Coriander, Cumin, Turmeric, Garam Masala, Paprika, Black Pepper, Chilli, Ginger): they are easy to buy at the Asian Mini Market Ciao Azmat in via Udine, 19/B, 34132 Trieste (TS);
White sugar;
Underwear (summer socks size 41 to 44, men’s underwear size S or M);
Trainers (sizes 41 to 44);
Over-the-counter medicines (ibuprofen, paracetamol).

If you would like to donate money, you can contact directly the three organizations that actively support migrants in Trieste.
Comunità di Sant’Egidio FVG trieste@santegidiofvg.org
Linea d’Ombra lineadombra.odv@gmail.com
No Name Kitchen Trieste nnktrieste@gmail.com