This Cat Was Drawn During the War

Ujazdowski Castle Centre for Contemporary Art invites to the group exhibition This Cat Was Drawn During the War, curated by Anna Łazar and Lada Nakonechna. 

Does war change art? Yes, just as it changes human life. Most existing problems intensify, and new ones arise. 

The power of art—as opposed to propaganda—lies, among other things, in its ability to unsettle our habitual ways of perceiving reality and to reveal doubts. It is precisely within the field of contemporary art that meanings important to the community are negotiated. When looking at an artwork, it is worth asking questions both about its message and the means employed, as well as about the sources from which its formal solutions derive. By interpreting and provoking reality, artists expose the dominant discourses of visual politics.

The exhibition addresses art created in the face of war. Issues related to the long-lasting imagery of the Second World War and the war in the former Yugoslavia return, and above all the war closest to us in time and geography—the war against Ukraine, whose struggle for freedom and life we support. It is from the experience of this war that our exhibition grows.

The presented works were selected in response to questions we asked ourselves as curators. Is art effective? What can we expect from it in times of crisis? How does it address important issues in public debate, including the experience of war, European identity, women’s rights, or decolonisation from the perspective of countries of the former socialist bloc? How does war affect our sensitivity when documentation from sites of crimes coexists on computer screens with pop culture and AI-generated images? And can art help us imagine the world differently from the ways suggested by dominant narratives?

The exhibition's public programme curated by Kateryna Iakovlenko brings together panel discussions and conversations that reflect on wars as an ongoing condition shaping Europe’s cultural, political and personal landscape. Since experiences differ, what do we have in common and what connects us today?

Moving beyond linear historical narratives, the programme examines how the legacy of the Second World War, socialism, post-socialist transformations and ongoing conflicts continues to shape memory, everyday experience and artistic practices, and how all these experiences influence our present. Art, culture and literature are viewed here as critical tools that reveal recurring historical crises and may warn against new tragedies.

This series of conversations highlights the importance of the individual while firmly proposing collective solutions such as solidarity, care and various forms of support.

Artists: Katya Buchatska, Peggy Buth, Mario de Vega, Wojciech Fangor, Ksenia Hnylytska, Agnieszka Kalinowska, Oksana Kazmina, Pavlo Khailo, Tarik Kiswanson, Yulia Kryvich, Aleksandra Kubiak, Zbigniew Libera and Darek Foks, Katya Libkind, Honorata Martin, Ivan Moudov, Lada Nakonechna, Ilona Németh, Olaf Nicolai, Mariola Przyjemska, Tanel Randel, Monika Sosnowska, Ivan Svitlychnyi, Miloš Trakilović, Variable Name (Valeria Karpan and Maryna Marynichenko), Zbigniew Warpechowski

Curators: Lada Nakonechna, Anna Łazar
Public programme curator: Kateryna Iakovlenko
Exhibition architecture: Ivan Melnychuk