Exhibition by Jannis Kounellis Opens at the Old Academic Building of the Kyiv-Mohyla Academy

An exhibition by Jannis Kounellis — Untitled (1997/2025) — has opened in the Old Academic Building of the Kyiv-Mohyla Academy. It creates a symbolic bridge between recent decades, connecting the experiences of different generations across time within the walls of a building currently undergoing transformation.

Between 1997 and 2008, the Soros Center for Contemporary Art operated within the Old Academic Building. Around it, a new Ukrainian art scene began to take shape. The gallery’s curator at the time was Marta Kuzma, now a professor at the Yale School of Art. In 1997, she organized an exhibition by Jannis Kounellis, a renowned Italian artist known for working with contradictions — combining historical memory with a radical critique of the present.

Today, Marta Kuzma returns to the Old Academic Building as the Artistic Director and Chief Curator of Faktura 10 with a reimagined presentation of Kounellis’ work:

“To reconstruct in today’s Ukraine the piece Kounellis created in 1997 means acknowledging the impact of war on an artist who lived through World War II and the Greek Civil War. His use of industrial materials (remnants of destruction often used in wartime manufacturing) reflected both the postwar condition of humanity and the experience of rupture and trauma. As the artist said: ‘After the war, we are left only with contradictions.’”
The exhibition opening was attended by artists Ilya Chichkan, Zhanna Kadyrova, and Mykyta Kadan; cultural critics and managers such as Tetyana Filevska, Olesya Ostrovska-Liuta, Kateryna Botanova, and Björn Geldhof; and fashion industry figures like Lilia Pustovit and Alina Kocharovska — among many others.

As part of the exhibition, a musical performance titled "Prolegomena to an Opera (The Kyiv-Mohyla Academy Song Cycle)" will take place on August 15, 20, and 21, curated by Kyiv-Mohyla alumna Sasha Andrusyk.

The exhibition is open through September 1, 2025, from Wednesday to Sunday, 12:00–19:00, with free admission.

It is presented by Faktura 10 — a key initiative of RIBBON International — in collaboration with the National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy, the Kounellis Archive in Rome, the Museum of Bells in Lutsk, Saint Sophia Cathedral in Kyiv, the architectural bureau FORMA, and curator Marta Kuzma.