Russia-Ukraine war

Ukraine gives its troops a handbook on protecting cultural property

The guidelines aim to make international laws readily accessible to soldiers on the ground, and reflects Ukraine's experience in the war against Russia

Opinion

Comment | Why a country should invest in art—even when it’s under attack

While physically defending their country, Ukrainian artist’s work provides oxygen for urgent issues that demand attention and dialogue, writes Björn Geldhof, the artistic director of the PinchukArtCentre, Kyiv

Björn Geldhof

Sasha Skochilenko: I just happened to be the winner of the ‘Hunger Games’

The Russian artist, who was freed in a prison swap, on life under President Putin and spending more than two years in prison for an art intervention opposing Russia’s invasion of Ukraine

Now is the time to honour not censor Russia’s dissident artists

The director of the Zimmerli Art Museum, which is home to the world's foremost collection of Soviet nonconformist art, says recent calls to censor all Russian art in light of the war in Ukraine oversimplify the issue

'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

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

Hosted by Ben Luke. With guest speakers Martin Bailey and Nadine Khalil. Produced by David Clack and Aimee Dawson
Sponsored by Christie's

Leigh Bowery at Tate Modern, Ukraine’s art world three years on, Max Beckmann and the Gothic Modern—podcast

Celebrating the life and work of the Australian performance artist, how Ukrainian artists and institutions are continuing to resist, and a close look at a pair of works from an Oslo exhibition

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

Sponsored by Christie's

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

Sponsored by Christie's

Artists

‘Everything indicates’ murder of Russian dissident artist in Poland was a political killing

The Polish prime minister said the murder of Robert ⁠Kuzovkov would “constitute an act of state terrorism” if Russia was found to be behind it

Aleksandr Dotsenko, artist jailed in Russia over anti-war supermarket protest, dies

The Ukraine-born artist died of a heart attack, less than two years after being convicted for placing anti-war slogans in a shop in the Leningrad region

‘He is a hero to me’: artist speaks out after Ukrainian athlete barred from Winter Olympics for commemorative helmet

Iryna Prots, who created the imagery on Vladyslav Heraskevych’s helmet—which honours Ukraine’s war dead—says she feels the decision to disqualify him violates the Olympic spirit

‘Repressionist’ artist Pavel Krisevich forced to flee Russia

The performance artist, who has faced multiple arrests, now lives in Montenegro

Heritage

Russian drone attack on Ukraine damages several cultural sites

A monastery in Kyiv was set ablaze by a missile strike in the latest offensive against the country, with residential buildings also targeted

Unesco adds ancient Greek city Tauric Chersonese in Crimea to World Heritage in Danger list

The decision comes after calls by Ukraine to protect the archaeological site, which is now managed by a Russian Orthodox cleric appointed by Vladimir Putin

Unesco-protected monastery in Lviv damaged by Russian drone strike

The 17th-century Bernardine Monastery was one of several buildings hit in the Ukrainian city’s historic centre, which is a Unesco World Heritage Site

Ukraine adopts resolution to aid evacuation of artefacts from front line

The government's decision to simplify the process of removing millions of objects in high-risk zones comes as the war with Russia enters its fifth year

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

European Union officially pulls €2m Venice Biennale funding over Russian participation

“Cultural events, funded by European taxpayers’ money, should safeguard democratic values—values which are not respected in today’s Russia,” a European Commission spokesman said

‘It’s essential for understanding what is going on in Ukraine’: new exhibition explores wartime limb loss

Nikita Kadan's Kyiv show emphasises Ukrainians’ “optimism of will” after four years of war

Photographer Giles Duley brings images of historic and current wars into dialogue in Manhattan pop-up show

For a pop-up exhibition in a penthouse apartment high above Midtown, the British photographer is showing archival materials, his own photos and three room-sized installations

Venice exhibition of site-specific films aims to capture the hyper stimulating times we are living in

The show "Canicula" is the third in a series presented by Fondazione In Between Art Film

Art Market

Hauser & Wirth cleared of Russian sanction charges

The gallery was charged after selling a Condo work on paper to the collector Alexander Popov

New York City’s ‘first Ukrainian art gallery’ highlights artists living in the war zone

“Some of the works that we’re selling here, I’m very confident that in three years they will double in price,” says Mriya gallery founder Artem Yalanskiy

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

Interviews

‘These are terrible crimes’: A Ukrainian museum director’s fight to recover art

Alina Dotsenko of the Kherson Art Museum explains how her team is working to find stolen objects

‘There is no panic’: artist Pavlo Makov on working in the beleaguered Ukrainian city of Kharkiv

Meanwhile, the Royal Academy in London prepares to launch a major survey of Ukrainian Modernist art in the wake of Russia’s invasion

Sunflowers: the symbol of Van Gogh—and Ukraine

Vincent’s beloved bloom will eventually flourish again in the war-torn country

a blog by Martin Bailey
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