Artist talks, Lectures and Discussions

Artist Talk with Yuri Yefanov

On Wednesday, 9 July at 18:30, we invite you to an Artist Talk with PinchukArtCentre Prize 2025 nominee Yuri Yefanov.
The event will take place on the 2nd floor, near the PinchukArtCentre reception, in the format of an online artist talk.Participation is free of charge, with prior registration: https://forms.gle/R5w9o4CSSjac6mcc7
Oksana Chornobrova will speak with Yuri Yefanov about his artistic practice and research into the interaction between everyday life and politics, as well as about the work I Watched the Sinusoidal Motion of Blue Electronic Waves until I Sensed Their Smell, which is on view as part of the exhibition.
I Watched the Sinusoidal Motion of Blue Electronic Waves until I Sensed Their Smell is a public space project that evokes memories of inaccessible places in Ukraine and offers alternative scenarios for the present and future. The work recreates a digital simulation of an environment in real time, based on the artist’s memories of his native Gurzuf in Crimea. Anticipating the erasure of memories tied to inaccessible Ukrainian locations, Yefanov transfers them into his own model of public space.
Yuri Yefanov is an artist and filmmaker who uses computer graphics and game simulations to create digital, alternative dimensions of reality. His projects have been screened at numerous film festivals and art venues across Europe and North America, including the International Film Festival Rotterdam, Vilnius International Film Festival, Media Art Festival Arnhem, as well as in Warsaw, Vienna, Athens, and other cities.
Moderator: Oksana Chornobrova is the assistant curator of the PinchukArtCentre Prize 2025 exhibition and assistant curator at the PinchukArtCentre.

Artist Talk with Vasyl Tkachenko (Lyakh)

On Friday 11 July at 18:30, we invite you to an Artist Talk with PinchukArtCentre Prize 2025 nominee Vasyl Tkachenko (Lyakh).
The event will take place on the 2nd floor at the PinchukArtCentre reception.Participation is free of charge with prior registration: https://forms.gle/UF2pirTJzumHcs1D6
Oleksandra Pogrebnyak will talk to Vasyl Tkachenko (Lyakh) about his artistic practice, his work with memory and identity, and the project ‘Attempts-1, 2, 3,’ presented at the exhibition.
In ‘Attempts-1, 2, 3,’, Vasyl Tkachenko (Lyakh) combines painting and video, creating the illusion of a surreal walk through personal memories. The artist immerses the viewer in a journey through his native places in Mariupol, which today remain inaccessible due to the occupation of southern Ukraine. Reflecting on loss and attempts to preserve the elusive, he contemplates how time, war, and occupation have transformed familiar places.
Vasyl Tkachenko (Lyakh) is an artist nominated for the PinchukArtCentre Prize 2025. He works with film, painting, photography and music. In August 2019, he joined the NGO Freefilmers. His recent exhibitions include: the solo show ‘Proximity/Distance’ at Promocyjna Gallery, Warsaw; ‘Apocalypse’ at Diogenes Gallery, Lviv; and ‘Are You OK?’, organised by UMCA at the National Centre ‘Ukrainian House’.
Moderator: Oleksandra Pogrebnyak, curator of the exhibition of shortlisted artists for the PinchukArtCentre Prize 2025 and curator at the PinchukArtCentre. Her recent projects include the Future Generation Art Prize 2024 exhibition and the international group show Dare to Dream, presented as part of the official parallel programme of the 60th Venice Biennale (La Biennale di Venezia). Oleksandra is co-author of the book on curatorial practices in Ukraine, Curatorial Handbook (2020), and co-founder of the NGO ‘Ukrainian Network of Environmental Humanities’.

Performative Reading of Veronika Kozhushko’s Poetry and Prose

On Saturday 12 July at 15:00, Artem Vusyk will present a performative reading of poems and prose by Kharkiv-based artist and writer Veronika Kozhushko.
The event is dedicated to Veronika’s memory who applied for the PinchukArtCentre Prize but tragically died on August 30 as a result of a Russian missile strike on the city's civilian infrastructure.
The event will take place on the 4th floor (in the hall with works by Andrii Rachynskyi).Participation is free of charge, with prior registration: https://forms.gle/8sRpFbVHrqG4VMKr8
Drawing on his personal acquaintance with Nika, her preferences, and conversations with her close friends, Artem Vusyk will imagine how she herself might have wanted her texts to sound on stage — including the scenery, music, and costumes of her characters.
"What would happen if I tried to stage these texts and turn them into a script for an imaginary performance? I wondered when I got my hands on Nika Kozhushko’s collection Time to Start Tango. How could these texts be divided between fictional and real characters? And how would Nika herself do it? Let’s try to imagine this together and hear it during the event," — Artem Vusyk.
Veronika Kozhushko was an artist, writer, and volunteer who played an integral role in Kharkiv’s cultural community. At a meeting of the PinchukArtCentre Prize 2025 Selection Committee, held shortly after her death, it was decided to honour the memory of Veronika Kozhushko with a special recognition outside the competition.
Artem Vusyk is a Ukrainian director, actor, performer, and lecturer at the I. P. Kotliarevskyi National University of Arts. He is the recipient of the Les Kurbas Prize for the play Veselka na Saltivtsi. In 2018, he co-founded the independent theatre Nafta in Kharkiv. In March 2022, he established the Varta Theatre in Lviv with other displaced artists from across Ukraine. He collaborates with Ukrainian state theatres and aims to use theatre as a safe space for dialogue and community building, as well as a platform for addressing issues such as tolerance, equality, illusion, ecology, and war in contemporary discourse.