2023 was a year of recovery for the Artsvit Gallery. Despite the fact that a full-scale war has been going on for the second year in a row, we were able not only to fully resume our work and implement all areas of the institution's activities, but also to adapt them to the new realities.
Over the course of the year, we opened six exhibitions within our institution, two of which were the result of our educational art programme, Artsvit for Kids, which underwent significant changes this year, becoming richer and more expansive. New, even somewhat experimental, projects have also emerged, such as the lecture and discussion series Talk in the Gallery and the interactive project Exhibition I Want to See.
In 2023, Artsvit Gallery celebrated its 10th anniversary, which we marked with a special programme of public events. Together with our visitors, we recalled the gallery's notable projects, listened to a lecture on contemporary art in Dnipro, held master classes for children as part of our ongoing programme ‘Artsvit for Kids’, and presented a special project within the framework of ‘Secondary Archive’: 14 audio works by Ukrainian artists, created for the Manifesta 14 biennial in 2022. We also raffled off an artwork from the Artsvit gallery collection among the guests of the event, thus starting a new tradition of raffling off works by artists we collaborate with for donations to various military needs, and created charity merchandise for the exhibition.
For the first time since the full-scale invasion, we teamed up with our partner Kultura Medialna to organise a residency for local young artists at the Dnipro Centre for Contemporary Culture. For more experienced artists, curators, and researchers, we held an open call for the Lublin Station residency, which will take place next year at Galeria Labirynt.
Our work outside Ukraine did not end there: at the end of the year, in partnership with the Katarzyna Kozyra Foundation and Galeria Labirynt, we launched a special project called ‘Secondary Archive. Women Artists in War’ and announced an open call for young artists. David Chichkan's work ‘Maria’ from the gallery's collection was shown at the Albertinum Museum in Dresden and the Museum de Fundatie in Zwolle (Netherlands) as part of the exhibition ‘Kaleidoscope of (Hi)stories. Ukrainian Art 1912–2023’.
See the full report on Artsvit Gallery's activities for 2023 here.
We would like to thank everyone who made this productive year possible: curators, artists, and partners for their fruitful cooperation, trust, support, and new ideas. To visitors who come and share their impressions in the guest book or on social media, motivating us to work even harder.
And, of course, we bow low to our defenders, volunteers, medics and all those who make it possible for us to work and bring our victory closer together!
