Voices from Ukraine

“Voices from Ukraine” is a meeting with representatives of Ukrainian art institutions during the pre-opening of the 60th Venice Biennial.

Location: Palazzo Contarini Polignac, 874 Sestiere Dorsoduro, 30123, Venice
Date: 19/04/2024
Time: 8:30-10:00 am

Despite the enormous destruction and constant threat caused by russian aggression, art centers and museums have not stopped operating. They work in extreme conditions, at risk of bombings, and missile and drone attacks. They continue to provide space for artists, organize exhibitions, art residencies, and other activities, but also meet the needs of wartime, supporting local communities and displaced persons, and collecting documents regarding destruction and genocide. They come to Venice to talk about their experiences and meet friends.

The event is organized by Galeria Labirynt and Miasto Lublin in partnership with Ukrainian Pavilion, Polish Pavilion, Zachęta Narodowa Galeria Sztuki / Zachęta National Gallery of Art, PinchukArtCentre

Participants:
◾Oksana Barshynova / Національний художній музей України / National Art Museum of Ukraine / KYIV
◾Ksenia Malykh / PinchukArtCentre / KYIV
◾Olena Mykhailovska / ХОХМ хмельницький обласний художній музей /KHMELNIYSKYI
◾Lyana Mytsko / Львівський муніципальний мистецький центр / LVIV
◾Bozhena Pelenska / JamFactory / LVIV
◾Iryna Polikarchuk / Галерея Артсвіт / DNIPRO
◾Ilona Demchenko / House of Europe

Oksana Barshynova (Kyiv), an art historian, curator, and researcher. She is Deputy General Director for Exhibition at the National Art Museum of Ukraine. She taught at the National Academy of Fine Arts and Architecture. She is an author of publications on modern and contemporary art of Ukraine, organizer and participant of conferences and panel discussions. Her recent curatorial project was the Ukrainian-Polish exhibition “Ukraine. A Different Angle on Neighborhood» (with Dr. Zhanna Komar, International Cultural Centre, Krakow, Poland, 2020-2021). Contributor to the publication From “The Ukraine” to Ukraine. A Contemporary History, 1991–2021 (2021), ed. by Matthew Rojansky, Georgiy Kasianov and Mykhailo Minakov, Wilson Center. In 2022-2023, she worked at the Musée d’Orsay and the Centre Pompidou in Paris, focusing on the representation of Ukrainian art in their collections.

Ksenia Malykh – an art historian, curator and researcher of contemporary art. Head of Research Platform, PinchukArtCentre. Co-founder of Closer Art Centre and OK Projects curatorial group. Lecturer of theory and history of Art and. Art Management. General Manager of National Pavilion of Ukraine at Venice Biennale 2019. Based in Kyiv, Ukraine.

Olena Mykhailovska (30.06.1974), an art historian, curator and art manager.
Preservation, research and popularization of the contemporary art and cultural heritage of Ukraine, conceptual renewal and institutional development of regional museums are the areas in which works. Now works at the Communal Institution of Culture “Khmelnytskyi Regional Museum of Art” as deputy director for research and institutional development. Established at 1986th, Khmelnytskyi Regional Art Museum was one of the first state museums to focus its collection on contemporary fine art (middle XX century till now) (https://xoxm.art/en/).

At the 1998 graduated from National Academy of Fine Arts and Architecture, Kyiv, Faculty of History and Theory of Art, art historian. 1991-1995 – was working as a researcher and exhibition curator at the Khmelnytskyi Regional Art Museum. From 1995 was curator of exhibitions and visual programs coordinator, deputy director NGO “Association “New Art”, NGO “Institute of Contemporary Art – Odessa”, Soros Center for Contemporary Art – Odessa (till 2002). Then worked in publishing houses in Kyiv, where edited cultural topics (Eva magazine, L’Officiel-Ukraine magazine, House & Interior magazine, Elite Club magazine etc).

From 2018 restarted to work at the Khmelnytskyi Regional Museum of Art as the curator, art critic, deputy director on the researches and institutional development.

Among curatorial projects are “Art Intersection: the Open Workshop” (2019, educational and exhibition project on the issues of relations of generations in the arts, supported by Culture Bridges); “Inspired by Boychuk” (2019, exhibition of the Ukrainian modernism of the XX-XXI centuries); “Thirst for painting” (exhibition of the Ukrainian female art of the 1960-2010s); “Identification” (2020, exhibition of the contemporary painting and graphic arts); “Holiday in classic style” (2020, exhibition of the fine arts of the XIX – early XX centuries); “Sunny” (2021, exhibition of the painting and graphic arts of artists and activists of 1950-60 years Alla Gorska and Viktor Zaretsky); “East. Level of Freedom” (2022, exhibition of artists from Donetsk region), “Winged” (2023, exhibition of the painting, graphic arts and design projects of artists and activists of 1980-2000 years Ludmyla and Mykola Masur) “The Price of Freedom” (2023, art residence on contemporary painting united 14 Ukrainian artists, different in age, geography of birth and residence, supported by Ukrainian Culture Foundation) etc.

From June 2021 to October 2022, was an acting director of the museum. From the beginning of the full scale war proposed and implemented the reforms and continues the museum activity. From March 2022, the socio-cultural art platform XOXM_ART_HUB (https://www.facebook.com/khramhohm) is operating on the basis of museum, an exhibition program with invited artists and organizations is being carried out, comprehensive assistance is provided to the museums of Donetsk region, collection research and development of concepts for new museum expositions are continuing, which will be implemented after the end of martial law.

Lyana Mytsko — Head of Lviv Municipal Art Center, art manager, activist, is engaged in the creation of community-building spaces, support and development of Ukrainian art. She was born in 1989 in Lviv. Master of cultural studies.

Since 2009, she has been engaged in the organization of cultural events as the head of the cultural agency “Line of Escape” (Liniya Vtechi), bringing festivals and spaces to life in cooperation with businesses and donors. In 2020, she managed the project of creating a city art center, which is successfully functioning to this day.

Manager of the music project Palindrom, organizer of music tours for new Ukrainian musicians and foreign artists.

Selected projects:

September 2023 – until now — mentor of the Cedos and WNISEF “Community reBuilding” project, working with the space of co-creation in the Ukrainian local communitys, usually near the front-line area.

November 2019 – October 2020 — Head of the creation and construction of the Lviv Municipal Art Center. Created under the auspices of the Lviv City Council and involving a circle of experts.

October 2020 – until now — Head of the Lviv Municipal Art Center.
https://www.lvivart.center/
Managed the organization of more than 800 events for almost three years of activity (exhibitions, discussions, lectures, master classes, discussions), the institution was visited by more than 300,000 people.
In 2022, with the funds of donors, it created a new building of space for rehabilitation and for residents, priority with the status of IDPs. The space has hosted more than 30 resident artists since November 2022.

2009 – present — Founder and head of the NGO “Cultural Agency “Escape Line” (Liniya Vtechi)
https://www.liniyavtechi.com/ Organized more than 300 projects in Lviv, mainly concerts; Organized three Ukrainian tours for the Palindrome project, a tour for the White Ward.
Cooperates with musicians, artists, foreign organizations and cultural managers.

2016 – 2018 — Coordinator of territory transformations and festival manager at FestRepublic (!Fest holding)
Created and coordinated 6 Craft Beer & Vinyl Music festivals. Creation of concept and filling. Matchmaking, work on the territory of the former factory.
summer 2017 — created and managed the land art project and residence in the Baba Rod Park

2011 – 2019 — Project work: curator of the main stage at ZaxidFest, cultural events of the UNDERGROUND club in Lviv, the “culture” section at the Lviv Media Forum, managed the reformatting of the Flugery Lviv festival

2020 — participation in the creation and coordination of four Intercity Live online festivals through independent inter-institutional cooperation between organizers from Ukraine

Bozhena Pelenska is an art and culture manager, cultural anthropologist, and program curator. Currently is the program and executive director of the Jam Factory Art Center, a contemporary art center working with visual art, theater, and music based in Lviv, Ukraine. Since 2015, she has been working on revitalizing a former jam factory into a contemporary art center, developing the organization’s strategy, programming, communication, partnership, structure, and operation.

Iryna Polikarchuk is the director and public program curator of the Artsvit Gallery (Dnipro, Ukraine), co-founder of the Dnipro Centre for Contemporary Culture, and teacher of Arts History and History of Modern Culture at the Dnipropetrovsk College of Arts and Culture. She is also a co-curator and coordinator of the Ukrainian part of the Secondary Archive project, founded by the Katarzyna Kozyra Foundation (Warsaw, Poland).