Kyiv Perennial interprets the idea of the biennial as a collective, long-term endeavor against the backdrop of survival – politically, socially, and culturally: “Perennial” means “lasting”, “enduring”, or “persisting”. Through presenting artistic and discursive practices, Kyiv Perennial addresses the multi-layered realities of war. The contributions engage and examine a wide-ranging spectrum of urgent themes, including war trauma, flight and displacement, the social and political polarization in European societies, ecological destruction caused by military conflict, and decolonial tendencies in contemporary Eastern European culture and politics.

Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine has given rise to a new wave of investigative, research-based, and documentary approaches deployed by artists, activists, and journalists. Their works have amounted to a collection of evidence of war crimes that reach from the killing of civilians and the erasure of architectural and other cultural heritage to environmental destruction that will affect Ukrainians until long after the end of the war. In addition to presenting these, Kyiv Perennial will put back into focus the Russian invasion of the Donbas region, the history of the Crimean Tatars, and German war crimes on Ukrainian soil during World War II. Going beyond a mere reckoning with the past, the exhibition orients itself towards the future, seeking possible exit strategies from the current deadlock of war, authoritarianism, and colonialism. 

Timo Feldhaus, Mit Kunst und Wissenschaft Politik machen, Berliner Zeitung, 23 February, 2024 (DE)
Simone Reber, Kunst in Kriegszeiten: Kyiv Biennale macht Station in Berlin, Deutschlandfunk Kultur, 26 February 2024 (Radio, DE)
Barbara Wiegand, Kyiv Perenniale in Berlin, rbb online, 28 February 2024 (Radio, DE)
Yelizaveta Landenberger, Die Kunst liegt in Scherben, Frankfurter Allgemeine, 2 March 2024 (DE)
Verena Harzer, Leere Vitrinen und Scherbenhaufen, taz, 18 March 2024 (DE)
Elisabeth Bauer, Eine schwerwiegende, nachlebende Abwesenheit, Texte zur Kunst, 24 April, 2024 (DE)