Exhibition Modern Freedom in New York: Ukrainian Artists on War and Freedom

About the Modern Freedom Exhibition

Modern Freedom explores the experience of the 20th century under totalitarian regimes in Central and Eastern Europe, the enduring aspiration for freedom, and the richness of cultures that remained hidden behind the Iron Curtain for decades. The project pays special attention to the region’s contemporary transformations and its current development.

The exhibition is organized by the Witold Pilecki Institute of Solidarity and Valor, a governmental institution of the Republic of Poland. Partners of the project also include the University of Ostrava, the Polish National Foundation, the Odesa National Fine Arts Museum, the Committee on Humanitarian and Information Policy of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, as well as GON Contemporary, Restore fx, Futureum, WYSPA, Sokolovsko org, SOBIC, and Style Renovations.

Artists from the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Ukraine, Hungary, Slovenia, Romania, Germany, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova, Bulgaria, and Lithuania are participating in the exhibition. The Ukrainian section of the exhibition presents works by artists who address war, loss, memory, and the experience of living through the Russian invasion through photography, installation, video art, textiles, painting, performance, and audiovisual practices.

Ukrainian Artists at the Exhibition

Among the Ukrainian participants:

— Sofia Kozlova with the project “Lines of Horizons” (2025) — a series of 20 photocollages created from digital photographic images prepared for printing. Each element measures 23 × 43 cm.

— Yarema Malashchuk and Roman Khimei with the work “Explosions Near the Museum” (2023) — an audiovisual installation and short film with a duration of 13 minutes 38 seconds, presented in digital video and sound format.

— Liya Dostlieva and Andriy Dostliev with the work “Licking the Wounds of War” (2016–2021) — a long-duration performance with photographic documentation and photocollage created from digital photographic images.

— Zhanna Kadyrova with the work “Palianytsia” (2022) — a series of 24 objects made from river stones using carving technique.

— Krystyna Melnyk with the works “Angel of History” (2022) and “The Crucified” (2022) — large-scale canvases executed in oil on canvas, measuring 175 × 125 cm.

— Natalia Lisova with the works “Indifferent Space” (2022) and “Silent Space” (2024), created using oil painting technique.

— Serhiy Petliuk with the kinetic video installation “When the Fog Clears” (2016), combining five Full HD videos, metal structures with rotating mechanisms, video projectors, and media players.

— Dasha Chechushkova with the work “Mara” from the series “Book of Fire” (2022) — a textile installation measuring 600 × 150 cm.

Public Program and Significance of the Event

In addition to the exhibition itself, Modern Freedom will be accompanied by an extensive public program: conferences, lectures, presentations, panel discussions, auctions, and performances dedicated to questions of freedom, historical memory, culture, and responsibility.

In the context of Russia’s full-scale war against Ukraine, cultural diplomacy remains one of the key instruments for communicating the truth about Ukraine — its history, values, and contemporary experience — to the international community. As we reported earlier, the Pylyp Orlyk Foundation has previously participated in similar cultural initiatives in Central Europe.

The staging of the international exhibition Modern Freedom in New York — one of the world’s leading cultural and diplomatic centers, and home to the UN — creates a unique opportunity to strengthen Ukraine’s international visibility and integrate the Ukrainian artistic narrative into the global discourse on freedom, memory, and responsibility.