“In the Eye of the Storm”: Modernism and Cities. A Conversation with Katia Denysova

We invite you to a presentation and discussion with Dr. Katia Denysova, co-curator of the exhibition project “In the Eye of the Storm: Modernism in Ukraine,” which continues the series "Let's Have a City."

Over the past three years, the exhibition “In the Eye of the Storm” has traveled to seven European cities, becoming the largest international project on Ukrainian modernism art in terms of both geographical scope and duration. The project began in the fall of 2022 in Madrid (Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza), and has since been hosted by the Museum Ludwig in Cologne, the Royal Museums of Fine Arts in Brussels, the Belvedere in Vienna, and the Royal Academy of Arts in London. In 2025, the exhibition opened at the Museum of Art in Łódź, and in February 2026—at the Andrey Sheptytsky National Museum in Lviv. Each installation on this exhibition tour was unique. The core body of works from the collections of the National Art Museum of Ukraine and the Museum of Theater, Music, and Cinema Arts of Ukraine was combined with works from the collections of the host museums. The tour was not only a change of venues but also an evolution of the exhibitions and a conversation about how artistic canons are established and redefined.

A conversation with Katia Denysova will offer an opportunity to take a look behind the scenes of this large-scale project and learn about the experience of presenting historical material to an international audience in the context of war. It will also be an opportunity to discuss the questions the curatorial team asked themselves: What role can curatorial practice play in the restitution of cultural heritage, the reinterpretation of established art-historical canons, and the exposure and overcoming of institutional biases? What challenges arise in the process of shaping long-term epistemic reparations through art exhibitions? And how can curators respond to shifting methodological paradigms while reflecting the complexity of the historical period they are exploring?

More broadly, this is a conversation about experiences of modernity in Ukrainian art and visual culture within the context of pan-European and global history during the first decades of the 20th century. We will examine cultural intersections and local traditions in Ukraine that shaped a universal modernist aesthetic; we will discuss the interconnection between modernism and folk art, as well as the tense interplay between urban and rural roots; we will explore the broader sociopolitical context in which modernism took shape in Ukraine; and we will reflect on conceptual frameworks for understanding and researching the history of Ukrainian modernism.

Credits

Cover Image: Oleksandr Khvostenko-Khvostov, Set Design Sketch for the Opera “The Barber of Seville,” 1925–26, gouache on paper, 38.3 x 48.5 cm / Stedley Art Foundation, Kyiv