The Kyiv Biennial 2023 aims to showcase Ukrainian art and culture while the country fights for its survival. The biennial will feature exhibitions in Kyiv as well as in the western cities of Lviv and Uzhhorod. The program will begin in Kyiv, Ukraine, and continue in Vienna. Events are planned in Warsaw, Poland, followed by numerous programs in Berlin, Germany.
Organizers say the biennial is meant as a defiant act and a celebration of Ukrainian culture and identity. The Kyiv Biennial was established in 2015, in response to the 2014 Maidan Revolution, and Russia's subsequent invasion of Crimea that year.
Since then, the biennial has promoted art as an important but underutilized tool for activism, resistance, and political engagement, commemorating the centennial of the October Revolution in 2017, the Chornobyl disaster, and the fall of the Berlin Wall in 2019.
The biennial will feature both Ukrainian and international artists. Their works will likely grapple with themes of war, displacement, and trauma but also hope and resilience.
While the biennial opening this fall is not certain given the unpredictable situation on the ground in Ukraine, organizers are moving forward with planning.
