Kyiv Perennial opens with a three-day opening weekend from 23–25 February 2024, symbolically marking the 10th anniversary of the Maidan Revolution and the 10th year of the Russian war against Ukraine. It is a continuation of the pan-European edition of the Kyiv Biennial 2023, which took place in several Ukrainian and EU cities. Kyiv Perennial is funded by the Kulturstiftung des Bundes (German Federal Cultural Foundation) in a cooperation. A multi-part exhibition, a poster project and an extensive program of events span four venues: nGbK’s two locations on Alexanderplatz and in Hellersdorf, Between Bridges, and Prater Galerie.

In partnership with: Emergency Support Initiative, Documenting Ukraine Program at the Institute for Human Sciences (IWM) Vienna, Institute for East European Studies at the Freie Universität Berlin, Ministry of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine, The Reckoning Project, Ukrainian Institute in Germany.
Kyiv Perennial interprets the idea of the biennial as a collective, long-term endeavor against the backdrop of survival – politically, socially, and culturally: “Perennial” means “lasting”, “enduring”, or “persisting”. Through presenting artistic and discursive practices, Kyiv Perennial addresses the multi-layered realities of war. The contributions engage and examine a wide-ranging spectrum of urgent themes, including war trauma, flight and displacement, the social and political polarization in European societies, ecological destruction caused by military conflict, and decolonial tendencies in contemporary Eastern European culture and politics.

Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine has given rise to a new wave of investigative, research-based, and documentary approaches deployed by artists, activists, and journalists. Their works have amounted to a collection of evidence of war crimes that reach from the killing of civilians and the erasure of architectural and other cultural heritage to environmental destruction that will affect Ukrainians until long after the end of the war. In addition to presenting these, Kyiv Perennial will put back into focus the Russian invasion of the Donbas region, the history of the Crimean Tatars, and German war crimes on Ukrainian soil during World War II. Going beyond a mere reckoning with the past, the exhibition orients itself towards the future, seeking possible exit strategies from the current deadlock of war, authoritarianism, and colonialism. 

Artists

Anonymous, Zuzanna Czebatul, De Ne De, Dmytro Hreshko, Nikita Kadan, Leon Kahane, Roman Khimey and Yarema Malashchuk, Yana Kononova, Daria Kozlova and Arwina Afsharnejad, The Reckoning Project, Vladyslav Riaboshtan, Mykola Ridnyi, Anna Scherbyna and Christina Werner, Anton Shebetko

Posters

Pavel Brăila, Uliana Bychenkova, Experimental Jetset, Marina Naprushkina, Aliona Solomadina, Wolfgang Tillmans 

Public Program 

Epp Annus, Franziska Davies, Nataliya Diachenko, Janine di Giovanni, Jan Tomasz Gross, Nataliya Gumenyuk, Isabelle Haßfurther, Heinali, Yuriy Hrytsyna, Kateryna lakovlenko, Leon Kahane, Alex King, Phil Langer, Liubov Malikova, Svitlana Matviyenko, Yevheniia Moliar, Yurko Prokhasko, Oleksiy Radynski, Mykola Ridnyi, Maksym Rokmaniiko, Kseniia Rybak, Raji Abdul Salam, Yassin al-Haj Saleh, Timothy Snyder, Darya Tsymbalyuk, Angelika Ustymenko, Vova Vorotniov, Christina Werner

Artistic Director 

Vasyl Cherepanyn

Curatorial team

Jörg Heiser, Serge Klymko, Constanze Musterer, Viktor Neumann, Lena Prents, Can Mileva Rastovic, Wolfgang Tillmans, Shahin Zarinbal

About the exhibition

Kyiv Perennial interprets the idea of the biennial as a collective, long-term endeavor against the backdrop of survival – politically, socially, and culturally: “Perennial” means “lasting”, “enduring”, or “persisting”. Through presenting artistic and discursive practices, Kyiv Perennial addresses the multi-layered realities of war. The contributions engage and examine a wide-ranging spectrum of urgent themes, including war trauma, flight and displacement, the social and political polarization in European societies, ecological destruction caused by military conflict, and decolonial tendencies in contemporary Eastern European culture and politics.

Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine has given rise to a new wave of investigative, research-based, and documentary approaches deployed by artists, activists, and journalists. Their works have amounted to a collection of evidence of war crimes that reach from the killing of civilians and the erasure of architectural and other cultural heritage to environmental destruction that will affect Ukrainians until long after the end of the war. In addition to presenting these, Kyiv Perennial will put back into focus the Russian invasion of the Donbas region, the history of the Crimean Tatars, and German war crimes on Ukrainian soil during World War II. Going beyond a mere reckoning with the past, the exhibition orients itself towards the future, seeking possible exit strategies from the current deadlock of war, authoritarianism, and colonialism. 

For detailed information visit the Kyiv Biennial website

Program

Friday, 23 February, 6 pm, nGbK am Alex
Exhibition opening with the musical performance KYIV ETERNAL by Heinali (8 pm)


Saturday, 24 February, 6 pm, Between Bridges
Exhibition opening


Sunday, 25 February, 4 pm, station urbaner kulturen/nGbK Hellersdorf
Exhibition opening with presentations by Christina Werner and Leon Kahane 


Thursday, 29 February, 7 pm, nGbK am Alex
The Reckoning Project: Ukraine Testifies
Presentation by Nataliya Gumenyuk, Janine di Giovanni, and Raji Abdul Salam accompanied with a screening of the film CHORNOBYL 22 (21 min.) by Oleksiy Radynski (EN/DE)


Saturday, 9 March, 5 pm, nGbK am Alex
A Сity Within a Building: The Russian Airstrike on the Mariupol Drama Theater
Presentation by the Center for Spatial Technologies with Maksym Rokmaniiko, Svitlana Matviyenko, Kseniia Rybak, and Isabelle Haßfurther (EN/DE)


Saturday, 16 March, 5 pm, Between Bridges
Decolonizing Eastern Europe 
Panel discussion with Epp Annus, Franziska Davies, and Darya Tsymbalyuk (EN)


Saturday, 23 March, 5 pm, nGbK am Alex
Displacement and Refuge in Times of War
Panel discussion with Kateryna Iakovlenko, Yassin al-Haj Saleh, and Jan Tomasz Gross (EN/DE)


Saturday, 6 April, 5 pm, Between Bridges
In Defense of Anonymous Authors – On the Role of the Witness in the Blurred Reality of a Warzone
Presentation by Yuriy Hrytsyna (EN)


Saturday, 13 April, 5 pm, Between Bridges
Queer Fighters of Ukraine 
Screening and talk by Angelika Ustymenko and Alex King (EN)


Saturday, 20 April, 5 pm, nGbK am Alex
Why (This) War? Psychoanalysis and War Today
Panel discussion with Yurko Prokhasko and Phil Langer (EN)


Friday, 26 April, 7 pm, nGbK am Alex
Infinity According to Florian
Screening and talk by Oleksiy Radynski (EN)


Saturday, 27 April, 5 pm, nGbK am Alex
Love and Know Your Native Land
Presentation by the De Ne De artistic initiative with Yevheniia Moliar, Liubov Malikova, Nataliya Diachenko, and Vova Vorotniov (EN)


Sunday, 28 April, 5 pm, Between Bridges
The Kharkiv Trilogy
Screening and talk by Mykola Ridnyi (EN)


Saturday, 1 June, 11 am–6.30 pm, nGbK am Alex (Stadtwerkstatt)
What’s Left of the Friendship of Nations?
Prater Galerie symposium organized by Lena Prents and Antonina Stebur (EN/DE)

Locations
 

nGbK am Alex
Karl-Liebknecht-Straße 11/13, 10178 Berlin
24 February–1 April 2024
Opening: 23 February 2024, 6 pm 
Opening hours: Tuesday–Sunday 12–6 pm, Fri 12–8 pm

station urbaner kulturen/nGbK Hellersdorf
Auerbacher Ring 41, 12619 Berlin (Entrance on Kastanienboulevard)
26 February–9 June 2024
Opening: 25 February 2024, 4 pm
Opening hours: Thursday and Saturday 3–7 pm

Between Bridges
Adalbertstraße 43, 10179 Berlin
25 February–4 May 2024
Opening: 24 February 2024, 6 pm
Opening hours: Wednesday–Saturday 12–6 pm
Opening hours Gallery Weekend, 26–28 April: 11–7 pm

Prater Galerie
From June 2024
Details on locations and dates will be announced shortly on the gallery's website.

The project is a cooperation between the Visual Culture Research Center, neue Gesellschaft für bildende Kunst and the Kulturstiftung des Bundes (German Federal Cultural Foundation), together with Between Bridges and the communal Prater Galerie. The Kulturstiftung des Bundes is funded by the Beauftragte der Bundesregierung für Kultur und Medien (Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media). 

The Kharkiv Trilogy
Screening and talk by Mykola Ridnyi
Sunday, 28 April, 5 pm  
More information

Queer Fighters of Ukraine
Screening and talk by Angelika Ustymenko and Alex King
Saturday, 13 April, 5pm
More information

In Defense of Anonymous Authors – On the Role of the Witness In the Blurred Reality of a Warzone
Presentation by Yuriy Hrytsyna
Saturday, 6 April, 5pm
More information

Decolonizing Eastern Europe
Panel discussion with Epp Annus, Franziska Davies, and Darya Tsymbalyuk
Saturday, 16 March, 5pm
More information

Timo Feldhaus, Mit Kunst und Wissenschaft Politik machen, Berliner Zeitung, 23 February, 2024 (DE)
Simone Reber, Kunst in Kriegszeiten: Kyiv Biennale macht Station in Berlin, Deutschlandfunk Kultur, 26 February 2024 (Radio, DE)
Barbara Wiegand, Kyiv Perenniale in Berlin, rbb online, 28 February 2024 (Radio, DE)
Yelizaveta Landenberger, Die Kunst liegt in Scherben, Frankfurter Allgemeine, 2 March 2024 (DE)
Verena Harzer, Leere Vitrinen und Scherbenhaufen, taz, 18 March 2024 (DE)
Elisabeth Bauer, Der Krieg gilt auch den Museen, faz.net, 23 March 2024 (DE)
Jens Hinrichsen, Investigative Kunst zum Krieg und die Suche nach Auswegen, Tagesspiegel, 9 April 2024 (DE)
Duncan Bllanntyne-Way, Kyiv Perennial: “War is brought to our doorstep”, The Berliner, 15 April 2024 (EN)
Elisabeth Bauer, Eine schwerwiegende, nachlebende Abwesenheit, Texte zur Kunst, 24 April, 2024 (DE)
Michael Hauffen, Berlin: Kyiv Perenniale, Kunstforum #295, 2024 (DE)