Joy

The exhibition Joy began with an urge to start a conversation about what sustains Ukrainians today, how many forms joy can take in times of war, and how it becomes a driving force—one that unites us, sustains us, and keeps our sense of self and will to live intact.

The starting point of the project was a series of written testimonies collected by Ukrainian veteran and marine Hlib Stryzhko. He conducted interviews with service members, veterans—both men and women—of the Armed Forces of Ukraine to learn what brings them joy and how they experience it today. Their stories become a disruptive agent, anchoring fragments of reality into the exhibition. Against the violence saturating our time, it offers joy and the sharing of joy as a radical act of humanity. Architect and artist Bogdana Kosmina transformed these texts into spatial objects that are just as significant within the exhibition as the works of the invited artists.

The exhibition invites visitors on a journey through the art center, provokes reflections, and presents different kinds of joy—from the playful, sincere delight sparked by an installation by Dutch artist Simone Post, created from candy and marshmallows, to the tender, poignant joy of Ukraine’s present in works by Kateryna Lysovenko, Kateryna Aliinyk, and Iryna Loskot.

Alevtina Kakhidze will set up a tattoo salon within the walls of the PinchukArtCentre, offering visitors the chance to literally “place joy under the skin.” Those who wish to do so will be able to get a tattoo based on Alevtyna Kakhidze’s drawings, marking an important period in their lives and their own courage. The images created by the artist carry special meaning. For example, one of the pieces depicts a saxifraga flower that grows through stone in the mountains of Crimea, and this tattoo becomes a symbol of unbreakable resistance and a long-awaited return.

The project aims to bring attention to the moments that make us feel alive and affirm our human spirit even in the hardest times. It also shows the international community that today joy is something Ukrainian society leans on—an experience others can learn from.

Artists: Kateryna Aliinyk, Lesia Vasylchenko, Ryan Gander, Tacita Dean, Anna Zvyagintseva, Alevtina Kakhidze, Pavlo Kovach, Katya Lesiv, Kateryna Lysovenko, Iryna Loskot, Simone Post, Ashfika Rahman, Daniel Turner, Tamara Turliun, Álvaro Urbano, Roman Khimei & Yarema Malashchuk, Julian Charrière.

Participants of the interviews: Oleksandr Androshchuk, Oleksandra Bezsmertna, Ksenia “Burevii”, Julia “Fobia”, Viacheslav Kaistro, Maiia Moskvych, Nazar “Reagan”, Alla Senchenko, Kseniia Shyian, Serhii Stratichuk, Oleksii Vasyliuk, Yaroslav Yaroshenko.

Curators: Björn Geldhof, artistic director at the PinchukArtCentre, and Oleksandra Pogrebnyak, curator at the PinchukArtCentre.