Russia-Ukraine war
On the first anniversary of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, The Art Newspaper looks at the human and cultural costs of the conflict, the art world’s efforts to support displaced institutions and individuals, and how Ukraine’s built and artistic heritage has been used to tell the opposing narratives of war.
Special investigation: Serious concerns over fate of Ukraine’s museum works taken by Russians
The Art Newspaper probes the complex issues arising from the removal of the Kherson Museum’s collection, sent to Crimea for “safekeeping”
Opinion
'Scythian gold is at the heart of Russia’s identity war'
Art historian and curator Konstantin Akinsha asserts that Russian attempts to claim succession from the ancient Scythians date back to the 18th century
Farewell to contemporary art in Russia: the cancellation of the Moscow Biennale marks the end of an era
Dozens of contemporary art shows have been forced to close since the outset of the war with Ukraine—but this one was meant to serve Putinist propaganda
Manifesta director says the biennial should be held in Ukraine: here are five reasons why it is a good idea
The 2028 edition of the nomadic European exhibition would strengthen the country's cultural scene
Art in the shadow of war: curating a show at Latvia's Mark Rothko Art Centre
Signs of the Russia-Ukraine conflict are everywhere in Latvia—and there's a growing number of culturally disenfranchised citizens, too
Podcasts
What will happen to Ukraine's museum collections after the war?
Plus, Okwui Enwezor’s Sharjah Biennial and Ming Smith at New York's Museum of Modern Art
Saving Ukraine’s heritage: an eyewitness account of relief efforts
Plus, the Cezanne blockbuster at The Art Institute of Chicago and Nicola L.’s Gold Femme Commode at Alison Jacques
Ukraine: the response of the art community and the risks of photojournalism
Plus, Chris Burden's unrealised projects and an in-depth look at F.N. Souza's Mr Sebastian at the Barbican in London
What can the arts do to help Ukrainian refugees?
Plus, NFTs and more at Art Dubai, and Felix Gonzalez-Torres’s golden curtain in Toronto
Artists
No end in sight: artists and curators flee Russia and build new lives in exile as Ukraine war rages on
Georgia has become a major centre of refuge for Russians who oppose the war
Ukrainian artists fight back with radical poster art
Sunseed Art platform offers downloadable images reflecting 'resistance and resilience'
US non-profits have supported more than 130 Ukrainian artists impacted by Russia’s war with emergency and resiliency grants
PEN America’s Artists at Risk Connection, with funds from the Frankenthaler and Warhol foundations, has given more than $180,000 in grants to help affected artists with emergency needs and to keep practising
Canadian foundation will give more than $150,000 to artists of Ukrainian heritage
The Hnatyshyn Foundation will confer awards to ten displaced Ukrainian artists and ten Canadian artists of Ukrainian descent
Heritage
Getty Trust pledges $1m to help protect Ukrainian cultural heritage
The International Alliance for the Protection of Heritage in Conflict Areas is partnering with the Getty to save Ukraine’s museums and monuments
Vladimir Putin’s martial law decree has given Russian forces ‘legal’ cover to loot art in Ukraine
In a move similar to the Nazis’ self-legalised art thefts, ancient gold treasure, paintings and Prince Potemkin’s mummified remains all risk being “preserved” by “evacuation”
Unesco adds Ukrainian city of Odesa to World Heritage List of endangered sites
The decision "recognises the outstanding universal value of the site and the duty of all humanity to protect it", the UN cultural organisation states
Ukrainian stone statues—likened to Easter Island's Moai—destroyed during Russian invasion
Dating from the ninth to the 13th century, the stelae were once considered sacred
Museums
Russia to take over Ukrainian museum collections as formal annexation plans announced
Putin's decree to permanently occupy four regions of Ukraine means thousands of artefacts will become property of Russia
Ukrainian forces win back Kherson region—but Russia has reportedly looted its art collection
The Ukraine territory is one of four illegally annexed on 30 September with decrees by Russian President Vladimir Putin
Kyiv cultural sites reportedly damaged in Russian bombardment
Ukrainian culture minister Oleksandr Tkachenko says buildings have been damaged including the Khanenko Art Museum and the Kyiv Art Gallery
Banksy
Banksy in Ukraine: seven new works appear in war-torn sites
The pieces are located throughout the country, from Kyiv to Borodyanka
High-tech security systems installed on Banksy’s Ukraine murals
Ajax Systems has deployed $13,000 worth of security and monitoring apparatuses at four Banksy murals in and around Kyiv
Ringleader of group who attempted to steal Banksy mural in Ukraine could face 12 years in prison
The suspect has not been identified by police, but is likely to be an environmental activist who told press that he intended to auction the work in support of the Ukrainian army
Banksy shares behind-the-scenes video of his Ukraine interventions
The secretive artist has dropped a short making-of documentary chronicling his guerilla interventions in war-torn Horenka
Banksy creates mural on bombed out building in Ukraine
The secretive artist apparently created a stencil of a gymnast amid the wreckage of a building in a city northwest of Kyiv
Exhibitions
Postponement of exhibition on Russian architecture school sparks accusations of ‘censorship and historical erasure’
New York’s Cooper Union postponed an exhibition on Vkhutemas, a school that operated in Moscow for ten years in the early 20th century before Stalin shut it down
Effects of war on young Ukrainian artists exposed in PinchukArtCentre Prize exhibition
Contemporary art prize, held in Kyiv, shows images of conflict and ideas for post-war reconstruction by 18 shortlisted artists aged 35 and under
Ukrainian artists’ monumental projection takes over Chicago riverfront
A projection by Kyiv-based studio PHOTINUS and based on composer Mykola Leontovych's work is taking over a building in Chicago, which is home to a large Ukrainian diaspora community
War-ravaged Ukrainian mosaics digitally recreated in London show
Exhibition builds on a project to document Ukraine's monumental and contested public art created during Soviet era
Art Market
Nefarious art world players: after Russian freeze out, will Saudi Arabia or China be next?
For decades Russian billionaires were feted for their free spending on the arts. Now, they are officially personae non gratae. But what of the other individuals and regimes with dubious reputations?
Art fairs have become a lifeline for Ukrainian galleries—even in Basel
Stands offered for free at Liste, while some gallery workers are living on the art fair circuit, unable to return home
Russian culture minister and a billionaire arts patron are included in latest lists of sanctions from the West
Olga Lyubimova has been sanctioned by the European Union and Vladimir Potanin is on the US list
Fabergé egg allegedly found by US officials on $300m yacht seized from Russia oligarch
A photograph of the "egg" has yet to be released, leading to heightened speculation
Interviews
'Art will go back underground': artist Emilia Kabakov on the war in Ukraine and the fate of the Russian art world
Born in the Soviet Union, the artist reflects on how works by her and husband Ilya have taken on new meaning since the war
Alexey Beliayev-Guintovt—a Putin supporter who is one of Russia's best-known artists—discusses why he is happy his country's art market is in ruins
The artist, who has widely been accused of being a fascist, believes that Russia's invasion of Ukraine will free the country from "a Nazi dictatorship”
Sunflowers: the symbol of Van Gogh—and Ukraine
Vincent’s beloved bloom will eventually flourish again in the war-torn country
Huge Soviet-era monument taken down in Kyiv as Ukraine continues 'derussification'
The Pereyaslav Rada sculpture celebrates a historical agreement between the two nations
Russian security forces search Moscow’s Garage Museum
The raid was reportedly related to an investigation into dissident artist Pyotr Verzilov
Head of New Holland art centre in St Petersburg resigns after husband's social post
Roxana Shatunovskaya stepped down from the space founded by Dasha Zhukova and Roman Abramovich after her husband posted about the Moscow terrorist attack on Facebook
'The desire to create is still there': Ukraine's first lady Olena Zelenska launches country's pavilion at the Venice Biennale
President Zelensky's wife gave a video address to visitors of the show in Venice
War, refugees, destruction: how Venice Biennale 2024 will reflect our era
Thousands have called for Israel’s pavilion to be cancelled, a proposed Palestinian exhibition was rejected, while Ukraine’s pavilion deals with its ongoing war
Russia lending its Venice Biennale pavilion to Bolivia
The Russian pavilion will host a group exhibition of artists from South America organised by Bolivia’s Ministry of Cultures, Decolonisation and Depatriarchalisation
Leading Ukrainian art academy devastated by Russian air strike
The Mykhailo Boichuk Kyiv State Academy of Decorative Applied Arts and Design reportedly sustained serious damage from falling fragments of a missile
Russian authorities interrogate and detain artists on eve of presidential election
The homes and studios of more than 30 artists in at least seven cities across the country have been raided
Russia opens up new museum front in its war against Ukraine
“Liberation museum” and propaganda-rich displays aim to rewrite history and legitimise war.
Suspect detained for Molotov cocktail attack at Latvia's Museum of the Occupation
Country's president has called it an "attack on the state"
‘We are not letting the horror be forgotten’: artists mark second anniversary of Ukraine invasion
A new Kyiv museum bringing together tales of the warzone and a marathon immersive video screening in London are two major projects taking place this weekend to acknowledge the occasion
Ukrainian dealer gives the country’s emerging artists a foothold in Hollywood
Lia Snisarenko launched Art Axcess in her home last September to showcase contemporary art from Ukraine
What's behind Russia’s new-found love of African art?
As Russia’s cultural venues are cut off from exchanges with Europe and the US—and in the wake of President Putin’s Russia-Africa summit—museums are filling the gaps with exhibitions of African art
‘In Miami, we are quite unique’: Ukrainian gallerists on their new Miami space
Allapattah outpost of Kyiv's Voloshyn Gallery aims to create dialogue between Eastern European, US and Latin American artists
Scythian gold artefacts returned to Ukraine after ten-year legal battle
The ancient objects were on loan to a Dutch museum from Russia-occupied Crimea before the Black Sea peninsula was annexed
‘It’s important to me to show what happened’: the Israeli artist drawing the traumatic events of 7 October
In the aftermath of Hamas’s attack on Israel, the Kyiv-born, Tel Aviv-based artist Zoya Cherkassky-Nnadi made drawings depicting victims and hostages
Russian artist Sasha Skochilenko jailed for anti-war protest
Skochilenko was charged for replacing supermarket price labels with pieces of information about the destruction of the Ukrainian city of Mariupol
Russian prosecutors seek eight-year prison sentence for artist who installed anti-war messages in grocery store
The St Petersburg artist Sasha Skochilenko was arrested in April 2022 for replacing a store's price labels with information about the war in Ukraine
Odesa Museum of Fine Arts rocked by Russian missile strike on 124th anniversary
Much of the collection was evacuated when Russia's invasion of Ukraine began last year
Kyiv Biennial 2023: a cross-European event put together ‘against all odds’
Plus, a project exploring the sounds of migration and Jem Perucchini’s Art on the Underground commission
Kyiv Biennial's main exhibition in Vienna brings together the fragments of conflict
The show—the centrepiece of an event being hosted in several cities across Europe—features work addressing the Russia-Ukraine war as well as examples of authoritarian rule and political subjugation from further afield
Artist and Pussy Riot member describes how he joined Ukrainian armed forces in fight against Russia
Pyotr Verzilov was formerly the publisher of Mediazona, a human rights news site founded by Pussy Riot members Nadya Tolokonnikova and Masha Alekhina
Artist recreates historical war painting using a crowd of Ukrainian soldiers
Emeric Lhuisset presents a contemporary version of a 19th-century work by Ilya Repin that frames it in the context of the Russian invasion of Ukraine
Cosmoscow, once Russia’s premier international art fair, opens in building reportedly struck by drone last month
Only one of over 75 participating galleries this year is from abroad—but Russian dealers remain determined to continue business
Russia’s boycotted Hermitage Museum inks culture deal with Iranian research institute
Cooperation agreement follows Vladimir Putin’s foreign policy strategy to forge closer ties with Iran
Unesco adds sites in Kyiv and Lviv to list of world heritage in danger
Amid the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine, Kyiv’s Saint Sophia Cathedral, the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra and the historic centre of Lviv join Odesa on Unesco’s endangered list
Heritage destruction brings Putin one step closer to prosecution, according to landmark report
Blue Shield workers have been able to access and gather evidence in destroyed cultural buildings and heritage sites in Ukraine. What have they found?
Unesco beefs up protection for 20 cultural heritage sites in Ukraine
Damaging any of the sites inscribed in the agency's new list qualifies as a ‘serious violation’ to the 1954 Hague Convention
Crimean museum director sanctioned by EU and Switzerland
Andrei Vitalievich Maglin is holding thousands of works from the Ukrainian city of Kherson
Canada imposes sanctions on director of Russia’s State Hermitage Museum
Canada is the first country other than Ukraine to sanction Mikhail Piotrovsky for his support of Russia’s invasion