Still Joy – from Ukraine into the World

The Victor Pinchuk Foundation, with the support of the PinchukArtCentre, presents “Still Joy — From Ukraine into the World” as an official Collateral Event of the 61st International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia.

Bringing together leading Ukrainian and international artists, “Still Joy” explores joy as both a vital force and a radical act of humanity. The exhibition is anchored in testimonies collected by Ukrainian storytellers Hlib Stryzhko and Nataliya Gumenyuk, which ground the project in lived experience.

The exhibition unfolds through a sequence of immersive installations, videos and artworks that interweave personal narratives, memory and resilience. It opens with Malashchuk & Khimei’s video installation of Kyiv rave scenes, juxtaposed with Kateryna Aliinyk’s atmospheric paintings and Piotr Armianovski’s video reflections on Mariupol. Simone Post’s site-specific installation transforms the palazzo into a playful, ephemeral environment.

Themes of displacement, care and survival emerge in works by Zhanna Kadyrova and Ashfika Rahman, while Gabrielle Goliath’s videos foreground intimate testimonies of Ukrainian LGBTQIA+ individuals. Tacita Dean’s film “If I Were in the Adlon” and Cardiff & Miller’s “Conversations with My Mother” reflect on memory, love and loss.

Across the exhibition, works by artists including Alevtina Kakhidze, Álvaro Urbano, Ryan Gander and Nikita Kadan trace the marks of conflict on bodies and landscapes. Through diverse media, “Still Joy” articulates a fragile yet enduring condition in which joy persists amid crisis.