September 1, 2022 – October 10, 2022
On 31 August, the end result of Polish-Ukrainian artistic collaboration will appear in Berlin’s urban space. The aim of the exhibition is to express solidarity and support to Ukraine and Ukrainian artists at the time of Russian aggression. The exhibition, initiated and organized by the Adam Mickiewicz Institute, was produced in cooperation with Polish cultural institutions and art galleries and with the support of Polish Ministry of Culture and National Heritage.
In the current age of globalization and pop culture, our perceptions of war are increasingly simplified, while the voices of those affected are rarely heard by the public. Thanks to the exhibition entitled Distant Tolerable Murder the experiences of Ukrainian artists – including those that are still at risk – can resonate with larger audiences. The show also poses questions about the future of Europe in the aftermath of Russian aggression, making the audience aware that the war concerns not only Ukraine, but also their home countries.
The exhibition consists of 19 artworks – created collaboratively and in different techniques, in pairs, by 18 Polish and 19 Ukrainian artists – and will be presented in Berlin until 19 September.
‘We started working on the Distant Tolerable Murder exhibition during the first days of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.Its structure assumes close exchange between artists from Ukraine and Poland and reflects their common experiences and heightened feelings of solidarity at time of war’ – explain exhibition curators Anna Lazar and Lada Nakonechna.
‘The dialogue between Ukrainian and Polish artists resulted in the creation of twenty/20 new artworks. They are diverse statements that document, among other things, different reactions to violence danger, refugee experience and the arms trade, the will to fight for freedom, as well as issues concerning the environment and management of resources. They also manifest the autonomy of art’s unique language and provide a reflection on the formal questions concerning communication within the public space. The process of creation mainly took place online. Artists from Poland were mostly aware that their interlocutors were and still are in immediate danger of being killed. The Distant Tolerable Murder exhibition is therefore not only an artistic statement, but also an account of a specific period of 21st century European history, a time marked by Russian genocidal aggression on Ukraine’.
Polish and Ukrainian artists taking part in the project: Yana Bachynska and Piotr Pauk, Anatoliy Belov and Kacper Szalecki, Oleksandr Burlak and Marcin Polak, David Chichkan and Karol Radziszewski, Yaroslav Futymskyi and Ewa Zarzycka, Zukentiy Horobiov and Anna Konik, Alina Yakubenko and Bogdan Babenko, Alevtyna Kakhidze and Piotr Bosacki, Lesia Khomenko and Mikołaj Chylak, Olexii Kuchanskyi, Nastia Teor and Kasia Hertz, Katia Libkind and Max Skorwider, Kateryna Lysovenko and Monika Drożyńska, Daniil Nemyrovskyi, Denis Pankratov and Zuzanna Hertzberg, Valentyna Petrova and Lesia Pczołka, Nina Savenko and Ada Rączka, Anna Scherbyna and Liliana Zeic, Larisa Venediktova and Marek Wasilewski, Vova Vorotniov and Zbiok Czajkowski.
Together with the Adam Mickiewicz Institute, the exhibition is co-organized by Muzeum Sztuki in Łódź, Arsenal Gallery in Białystok, Arsenal Municipal Gallery in Poznań, Labyrinth Gallery in Lublin, Gdańsk Municipal Gallery, International Cultural Centre in Kraków, BWA in Zielona Góra and the State Art Gallery in Sopot. The project is co-financed by the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage.