EVENT LANGUAGE: ENGLISH.

“The Kyiv Biennial, a key fixture of contemporary art in Eastern Europe over the past decade, has opened its fifth edition on time and at full scale, but not (or not principally) at home. It has taken flight, spread beyond Ukraine’s borders. It has multiplied itself into a major European festival on war, democracy and the waning promise of solidarity. It has a scholar’s ambition but a slacker’s style; it spans a continent even as it anchors itself in Kyiv. It’s the most energizing exhibition of the year. The Kyiv Biennial, a key fixture of contemporary art in Eastern Europe over the past decade, has opened its fifth edition on time and at full scale, but not (or not principally) at home. It has taken flight, spread beyond Ukraine’s borders. It has multiplied itself into a major European festival on war, democracy and the waning promise of solidarity. It has a scholar’s ambition but a slacker’s style; it spans a continent even as it anchors itself in Kyiv. It’s the most energizing exhibition of the year. /…/

The Kyiv Biennial this year has brought together more than 50 artists and collectives to its temporary Austrian exile, with artists from Ukraine, some still at home and others refugees, exhibiting alongside others from Poland, Slovakia and Romania, but also Colombia, Cuba, Syria.  /…/

It was hard not to worry, though, as I made my way across Vienna for this truly important show, that its democratic and consensual spirit was already in retreat.”

– Jason Farago, The New York Times, Nov 3, 2023