Weekend plans in Kyiv are packed: Francisco Goya’s graphics at the Khanenko Museum, Nikita Kadon’s kinetic sculpture at Pavilion 13, and Oleksandr Sukholit’s sculpture at the new Art Ukraine Gallery.
“Disparates”
until July 26, Khanenko Museum
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On the occasion of the 280th anniversary of the birth of the Spanish artist Francisco Goya, the Khanenko Museum presents for the first time in Ukraine the famous series of prints “Disparates” (Los Disparates). The exhibition consists of three interconnected parts: Goya’s works, a 23-meter mural by the Kharkiv children’s art studio Aza Nizi Maza, which reinterprets Goya’s series as a dream about the coming-of-age of a fictional teenager Francisca Talan, and textual reflections by contemporary female authors created within an open call.
“New Integrity”
until May 13, Pavilion 13
Nikita Kadon’s work “New Integrity” explores how indivisibility is destroyed and restored. It is based on in-depth interviews with Ukrainian veterans and was developed in collaboration with PhD in Sociology Sofia Lavrenyuk. The work combines individual stories about wounds, amputation, prosthetics, and rehabilitation, tracing how physical and psychological integrity is rethought after trauma.
Drawing on the tools of documentary theater and sculpture, Kadon imagines limb prosthetics as “witnesses.” Structures assembled from them perform slow, repetitive movements on stage, like theatrical puppets or ancient automatons. These movements respond to Clemens Pool’s soundscape, composed of veterans’ testimonies and voiced by actress Anastasia Segeda.
“Chernobyl. Shelter Object”
from April 24 to May 21, Ukrainian House
On the 40th anniversary of the Chernobyl disaster, the project “Chernobyl. Shelter Object” opens at the Ukrainian House, reinterpreting the Chernobyl myth as a layering of landscapes: cultural and natural, lost and found, scientific and magical, tragedy and refuge.
Through documentary evidence, the exhibition will guide viewers through the path from the accident at the ChNPP and the liquidation of its consequences to the impact of a Russian drone on the New Safe Confinement in February 2025, showcase the preserved heritage of Chernobyl Polissia, highlight the Jewish history of the Chernobyl region, present Ivan Lytovchenko’s preparatory materials for the mosaics in Pripyat and Yuliy Sin’kevych’s sketches for the “Prometheus” monument, which became the city’s symbol. The artistic interpretation of the 1986 disaster will be presented through Maria Prymachenko’s Chernobyl series, works by Viktor Zaretsky, Ada Rybachuk and Volodymyr Melnychenko, Liudmyla Meshkova, documentary photographs by Viktor Marushchenko, works and photographs by liquidator artists Oleh Veklenko and Dmytro Nahurnyi, and many others.
The curators of the exhibition are Oleksiy Ananov, Tetiana Hauk, Alisa Hryshanova, and Oksana Semenik.
“My Eden”
until May 24, Art Ukraine Gallery
The updated Art Ukraine Gallery has opened an exhibition by Oleksandr Sukholit, one of the most significant representatives of contemporary Ukrainian art. “My Eden” immerses the viewer in the world of the artist’s studio and garden – a space where sculptures coexist in a living dialogue with nature.
The exhibition opens the updated Art Ukraine Gallery location – a space of approximately 700 m² on the Pechersk hills. The project will collaborate with important names and iconic figures of the Ukrainian art scene, as well as with young and promising artists.
“Vertebrates”
until May 10, Garage33 Gallery-Shelter
“Vertebrates” is an exhibition by Crimean Tatar artist Renata Asanova about the experience of displacement, loss, and the impossibility of returning to a previous form – and at the same time about relentless mutation for the sake of continuing existence.
The central image of the project is ceramic objects that capture the state of an organism that can no longer endure but continues to exist. These forms are somewhere between a body and a plant, between a bone and a root – they can be read as the anatomy of the psyche or as botanical anthropology. Alongside the ceramics, textile structures unfold – cocoons, tents, temporary shelters, which represent the experience of living at home.
The exhibition arose from the artist’s one-month unauthorized residency at Garage33 – as an experience of coexisting with the space.
“Circle of Spring”
Avangarden gallery
The exhibition “Circle of Spring” is about the feeling of renewal and the beginning of a new life cycle that comes with spring. The exhibition features works by classics of Ukrainian modernism, masters of naive art, and contemporary artists. Among them are Alona Andreeva, Oleksandr Babak, David Burliuk, Polina Dmitrichenko, Taras Gayda, Pavlo Horobets, Viktor Yefimenko, Albina Kolesnichenko, Olga Krykun, Elizaveta Mironova, Roman Mykhailov, Valentina Novak, Maria Prymachenko, Marfa Tymchenko, Alona Shibunova, Serhiy Shyshko, Lisova 3.
Flagrante
until April 26, thesteinstudio
Artist Yaryna Fedoriv presents a collection of glass engraved glasses created during the winter period in Kyiv.
For the past few years, she has been working with the rare Italian traditional technique of ring engraving on glass. The artist’s practice focuses on working with transparency and reflection. Yaryna creates her own map of the country of tenderness – an image of a new everyday life. In contrast to the conditions – cold, darkness, the hum of generators, candlelight, and lack of sleep – this is an attempt to form a space filled with gentleness, in which there is no hint of suffering.