When faith moves mountains

143 days after the beginning of the Russian invasion in Ukraine, the PinchukArtCentre opens again as of July 16. 

In partnership with, and thanks to M HKA and the Flemish Government, it presents a major exhibition with over 45 artists, two thirds international, one third Ukrainian. This reopening puts the focus on Ukraine as a country open to the world and celebrates its deep roots and relation to Europe.

The exhibition brings together works chosen from the collection of M HKA because of their emancipatory and empowering nature. They are put in dialogue with works by Ukrainian artists, many made during the war. The outcome is a space that invites us to feel, think and reflect beyond the immediate urgencies of war.

More than 40 works from international artists are being lent. Even though the collection cannot be insured to any damages of war, M HKA and the Flemish Government chose to share resources and invest a significant part of their heritage into Ukraine.

With this exhibition, PinchukArtCentre, M HKA and the Flemish Government, share a belief that we must allow art to empower, that we must allow art to exist and engage with people and places where this is needed the most. Art allows one to stay in touch with one’s humanity, it provides a space for vulnerability, imagination and dreams.

“This is a risk we willingly take,” says Flemish minister-president Jan Jambon, “in this way we can express our solidarity with Ukraine and our ambition to deepen our relation with the country.”

From the M HKA collection there are amongst others works from Hüseyin Bahri Alptekin, Francis Alÿs, Babi Badalov, James Lee Byars, Jan Cox,  Berlinde De Bruyckere, Jan De Lauré, Marlene Dumas, Jan Fabre, Sheela Gowda, Hiwa K, Barbara Kruger, Kerry James Marshall, Almagul Menlibayeva, Otobong Nkanga, ORLAN, Wilhelm Sasnal, Allan Sekula, Adrien Titriaux, Luc Tuymans and Ben Vautier.

From Ukraine there are works from among others Oksana Chepelyk, Danylo Galkin, Nikita Kadan, Lesia Khomenko, Vlada Ralko, Oleksii Sai, Andriy Sagaidakovsky, Yevhen Samborsky,  Anna Zvyagintseva and group of Yarema Malashchuk and Roman Khimei. Their works are in some cases early pieces as an early 1990s painting by Andriy Sagaidakovsky, depicting in exclusively blacks and greys, a Ukrainian landscapes with the writings ”Sometimes man is tired very much and wants to sleep a lot”. A poignant comment on the exhaustion of the war. Others managed to create during the war, making works that directly respond and reflect.

The exhibition is curated by Bart De Baere, Björn Geldhof, Ksenia Malykh, Yarema Malashukh and Roman Himey, with curatorial advice by Jan De Vree and the collection staff for the M HKA side.