I Dreamt of the Beasts

The exhibition was created from the thought of an enchanted forest, which was previously a place of walking, tranquillity and peace for us, and now it is full of threats: mined areas, places of rape, murder and shocking social tragedies. The forest thickened, it filled with darkness and fear. But even in impenetrable darkness, its inhabitants – extraordinary creatures – help to illuminate the way and overcome darkness. These magical creatures come in dreams, live with us at home, hold our hands, defend us at the front and bury the dead. The strength of these creatures is dignity, which dispels fear, helps to overcome trauma; it allows you to go through difficulties as through a fairy-tale initiation. Turning to the concept of fairy tales, we do not underestimate the real pain and tragedy. Despite the true horror of war, it is fantasy and utopianism that allow us to dream about the future, to stick and refer to the war as if it was not abstract, but solid as a concrete foundation.

For a long time, we’ve been reflecting on how to properly talk about the ongoing war, and decided to immerse the audience in the illusion created by dreams, memories, diaries, conversations, and experiences that found their embodiment in the testimonies of war. We tried to make this exhibition documentary, while challenging the very concept of the “documentary”. We tried to make it artistic while problematising art as such. First of all, individual and collective experiences that have found their material form have become valuable to us.

Neither we nor our exhibition attempt to present evil in an abstract way. This evil is present in every work directly or between the lines, as it is present now in our lives. However, at the end of the exhibition, this evil finds its embodiment in the form of a dead Russian empire. Dead, because destroyed by fantastic beings – the same ones who come in dreams, hold our hands, defend us at the front and bury the dead. And the artists’ voices in this gallery are also among them.

(Kateryna Iakovlenko and Halyna Hleba)

Exhibition opening: November 25, 2022 (Friday) at 7:00 p.m.
Where: Galeria Labirynt, ul. ks. J. Popiełuszki 5, Lublin
Accessibility: The exhibition is held on the ground floor. In the bookshop you can borrow a wheelchair and earmuffs for free during your stay in the gallery. The gallery has 6 portable induction loops. Opening and discussion interpreted simultaneously into English – please pick up the device at the bookstore before the event; interpreters: Justyna Chwedyk, Katarzyna Krysa.
Exhibition on display: until 26/02/2023 (Tue–Sun, 12:00 –7:00 p.m.)
Entrance: PLN 5/2 (free admission to the exhibition opening)

Discussion: November 25, 2022 (Friday), at 8:00 p.m. [PL+UA+EN+PJM]; participants:

• Kateryna Iakovlenko, Halyna Hleba (curators of the exhibition „I Dreamt of the Beasts”)
• Iryna Polikarchuk (coordinator of the exhibition „I Dreamt of the Beasts”)
• Yuriy Biley (Open Group)

Guided tour: November 26, 2022 (Saturday), at 12:00 p.m. [PL+UA+EN]

Participants: Katya Buchatska, Olia Fedorova, Daryna Gladun i Lesyk Panasiuk, Yevhen Holubentsev, Dmytro “Orest” Kozatskyi and Yuliia Hontaruk, Yana Kononova, Inga Levi; Pol, Tokha and Tsviakh; Anastasiia Pustovarova, Bohdan Shumylovych and Korzhyk the cat, participants of the “Artsvit for Children” project, Anna Zvyagintseva

Curators: Kateryna Iakovlenko, Halyna Hleba
Coordinators: Iryna Polikarchuk, Monika Rejman
Organiser: Artsvit Gallery (Dnipro, Ukraine)
Co-organizer: Galeria Labirynt

Funded from the Stabilisation Fund for Culture and Education 2022 of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Federal Republic of Germany and the Goethe-Institut.

With the support of MOCA NGO, Centre for Urban History of Central and Eastern Europe, atelienormalno, BABYLON’13.

Sponsor of the opening of the exhibition Browar Tenczynek