Russia-Ukraine war

On the first anniversary of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, The Art Newspaper looks at the human and cultural costs of the conflict, the art world’s efforts to support displaced institutions and individuals, and how Ukraine’s built and artistic heritage has been used to tell the opposing narratives of war.

Special investigation: Serious concerns over fate of Ukraine’s museum works taken by Russians

The Art Newspaper probes the complex issues arising from the removal of the Kherson Museum’s collection, sent to Crimea for “safekeeping”

Opinion

'Scythian gold is at the heart of Russia’s identity war'

Art historian and curator Konstantin Akinsha asserts that Russian attempts to claim succession from the ancient Scythians date back to the 18th century

Farewell to contemporary art in Russia: the cancellation of the Moscow Biennale marks the end of an era

Dozens of contemporary art shows have been forced to close since the outset of the war with Ukraine—but this one was meant to serve Putinist propaganda

Art in the shadow of war: curating a show at Latvia's Mark Rothko Art Centre

Signs of the Russia-Ukraine conflict are everywhere in Latvia—and there's a growing number of culturally disenfranchised citizens, too

Podcasts

What will happen to Ukraine's museum collections after the war?

Plus, Okwui Enwezor’s Sharjah Biennial and Ming Smith at New York's Museum of Modern Art

Hosted by Ben Luke. With guest speakers Martin Bailey and Nadine Khalil. Produced by David Clack and Aimee Dawson
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Saving Ukraine’s heritage: an eyewitness account of relief efforts

Plus, the Cezanne blockbuster at The Art Institute of Chicago and Nicola L.’s Gold Femme Commode at Alison Jacques

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Ukraine: the response of the art community and the risks of photojournalism

Plus, Chris Burden's unrealised projects and an in-depth look at F.N. Souza's Mr Sebastian at the Barbican in London

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What can the arts do to help Ukrainian refugees?

Plus, NFTs and more at Art Dubai, and Felix Gonzalez-Torres’s golden curtain in Toronto

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Artists

Heritage

Getty Trust pledges $1m to help protect Ukrainian cultural heritage

The International Alliance for the Protection of Heritage in Conflict Areas is partnering with the Getty to save Ukraine’s museums and monuments

Vladimir Putin’s martial law decree has given Russian forces ‘legal’ cover to loot art in Ukraine

In a move similar to the Nazis’ self-legalised art thefts, ancient gold treasure, paintings and Prince Potemkin’s mummified remains all risk being “preserved” by “evacuation”

Unesco adds Ukrainian city of Odesa to World Heritage List of endangered sites

The decision "recognises the outstanding universal value of the site and the duty of all humanity to protect it", the UN cultural organisation states

Banksy

Banksy in Ukraine: seven new works appear in war-torn sites

The pieces are located throughout the country, from Kyiv to Borodyanka

High-tech security systems installed on Banksy’s Ukraine murals

Ajax Systems has deployed $13,000 worth of security and monitoring apparatuses at four Banksy murals in and around Kyiv

Ringleader of group who attempted to steal Banksy mural in Ukraine could face 12 years in prison

The suspect has not been identified by police, but is likely to be an environmental activist who told press that he intended to auction the work in support of the Ukrainian army

Banksy shares behind-the-scenes video of his Ukraine interventions

The secretive artist has dropped a short making-of documentary chronicling his guerilla interventions in war-torn Horenka

Banksy creates mural on bombed out building in Ukraine

The secretive artist apparently created a stencil of a gymnast amid the wreckage of a building in a city northwest of Kyiv

Exhibitions

Postponement of exhibition on Russian architecture school sparks accusations of ‘censorship and historical erasure’

New York’s Cooper Union postponed an exhibition on Vkhutemas, a school that operated in Moscow for ten years in the early 20th century before Stalin shut it down

Effects of war on young Ukrainian artists exposed in PinchukArtCentre Prize exhibition

Contemporary art prize, held in Kyiv, shows images of conflict and ideas for post-war reconstruction by 18 shortlisted artists aged 35 and under

Ukrainian artists’ monumental projection takes over Chicago riverfront

A projection by Kyiv-based studio PHOTINUS and based on composer Mykola Leontovych's work is taking over a building in Chicago, which is home to a large Ukrainian diaspora community

War-ravaged Ukrainian mosaics digitally recreated in London show

Exhibition builds on a project to document Ukraine's monumental and contested public art created during Soviet era

Art Market

Nefarious art world players: after Russian freeze out, will Saudi Arabia or China be next?

For decades Russian billionaires were feted for their free spending on the arts. Now, they are officially personae non gratae. But what of the other individuals and regimes with dubious reputations?

Art fairs have become a lifeline for Ukrainian galleries—even in Basel

Stands offered for free at Liste, while some gallery workers are living on the art fair circuit, unable to return home

Kabir Jhala. With additional reporting by Tom Seymour

Russian culture minister and a billionaire arts patron are included in latest lists of sanctions from the West

Olga Lyubimova has been sanctioned by the European Union and Vladimir Potanin is on the US list

Fabergé egg allegedly found by US officials on $300m yacht seized from Russia oligarch

A photograph of the "egg" has yet to be released, leading to heightened speculation

Interviews

'Art will go back underground': artist Emilia Kabakov on the war in Ukraine and the fate of the Russian art world

Born in the Soviet Union, the artist reflects on how works by her and husband Ilya have taken on new meaning since the war

Alexey Beliayev-Guintovt—a Putin supporter who is one of Russia's best-known artists—discusses why he is happy his country's art market is in ruins

The artist, who has widely been accused of being a fascist, believes that Russia's invasion of Ukraine will free the country from "a Nazi dictatorship”

Sunflowers: the symbol of Van Gogh—and Ukraine

Vincent’s beloved bloom will eventually flourish again in the war-torn country

a blog by Martin Bailey

Treasured Constructivist skyscraper in Kharkiv damaged by Russian strike

Derzhprom, completed in 1928, is an important symbol of Ukrainian national identity

Russian military destroys ancient Ukrainian burial mounds, report finds

Satellite imagery and geospatial analysis reveals extent of damage to sites in occupied region

Prizesnews

'This year is particularly special': art prize exhibition delayed by Russian invasion opens in Kyiv

In the midst of an ongoing war, the PinchukArtCentre’s Future Generation Prize will award $100,000 to one of 21 shortlisted artists

US government provides more funds and imposes new restrictions to safeguard Ukrainian art

An additional $1m in funding for preservation and conservation efforts follows new import restrictions to help curb Russia’s looting and trafficking of Ukraine’s heritage

President Volodymyr Zelensky visits New York’s Ukrainian Museum, calls for ‘the decolonisation of Ukrainian art’

The Ukrainian president and first lady, who are in New York for the United Nations General Assembly, inaugurated the museum’s major Alexandra Exter exhibition

Crime news

Former Trump adviser—and Russian state TV commentator—charged with money laundering through art and antiques

Dimitri Simes and his wife Anastasia have been charged with three counts of violating US sanctions, including money laundering through the acquisition of art

18-year-old artist Veronika Kozhushko killed in Russian airstrike on Kharkiv

The prominent Ukrainian poet Serhiy Zhadan described her as “very young, sincere and gifted," adding: "There is no explanation for this. And there is no forgiveness either”

A Hamptons art gala raises money for Ukrainian children, with an assist from actor Liev Schreiber

As the summer season in the tony Long Island enclave wound down, the humanitarian organisation BlueCheck and Manhattan’s Mriya gallery teamed up for a benefit auction

Volta New York champions Ukrainian artists

The satellite fair’s new director visited Kyiv in the spring to forge partnerships with artists and dealers there

Sasha Skochilenko: I just happened to be the winner of the ‘Hunger Games’

The Russian artist, who was freed in a prison swap, on life under President Putin and spending more than two years in prison for an art intervention opposing Russia’s invasion of Ukraine

Release of Olena Pekh highlights plight of other Ukrainian cultural workers languishing in Russian prisons

Through Vatican mediation, the museum researcher was freed alongside nine others earlier this summer

Ukrainian worker manages a wrecked museum in exile

Mariupol museum’s Oleksandr Hore, trapped in Odesa, is documenting losses and monitoring looting

New York City’s ‘first Ukrainian art gallery’ highlights artists living in the war zone

“Some of the works that we’re selling here, I’m very confident that in three years they will double in price,” says Mriya gallery founder Artem Yalanskiy

Russian dissident artist released as part of historic prisoner swap

Sasha Skochilenko, who was arrested in 2022 for an art intervention opposing Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, was freed along with Wall Street Journal writer Evan Gershkovich and 15 others

Russian artist imprisoned for three and a half years over alleged anti-war supermarket protest

Anastasia Dyudyaeva is the second artist in less than a year to be jailed for allegedly disseminating anti-government messages in such a setting

‘These are terrible crimes’: A Ukrainian museum director’s fight to recover art

Alina Dotsenko of the Kherson Art Museum explains how her team is working to find stolen objects

Anglo-French actor brings Ukrainian art to London with new festival

Edward Akrout is launching Kyiv Art Sessions at the Old Sessions House this weekend

‘There is no panic’: artist Pavlo Makov on working in the beleaguered Ukrainian city of Kharkiv

Meanwhile, the Royal Academy in London prepares to launch a major survey of Ukrainian Modernist art in the wake of Russia’s invasion

Artur Snitkus, Ukrainian artist and musician, killed in combat near Donetsk, aged 36

In tributes, friends and colleagues described him as “icon of the Ukrainian queer underground” and “a holy man”

Exiled Russian artist reflects on the impact of war on his hometown in Peckham show

Pavel Otdelnov's show at the Old Waiting Room in south London aims to “discover the origins of the catastrophe unfolding before our eyes today”

Ukrainian museums call for better recognition of their role in reconstruction

More than 100 Ukrainian museum professionals, meeting in Berlin, pledge to rebuild a modern, inclusive cultural sector

Huge Soviet-era monument taken down in Kyiv as Ukraine continues 'derussification'

The Pereyaslav Rada sculpture celebrates a historical agreement between the two nations

Russian security forces search Moscow’s Garage Museum

The raid was reportedly related to an investigation into dissident artist Pyotr Verzilov

Russianews

Head of New Holland art centre in St Petersburg resigns after husband's social post

Roxana Shatunovskaya stepped down from the space founded by Dasha Zhukova and Roman Abramovich after her husband posted about the Moscow terrorist attack on Facebook

War, refugees, destruction: how Venice Biennale 2024 will reflect our era

Thousands have called for Israel’s pavilion to be cancelled, a proposed Palestinian exhibition was rejected, while Ukraine’s pavilion deals with its ongoing war

Russia lending its Venice Biennale pavilion to Bolivia

The Russian pavilion will host a group exhibition of artists from South America organised by Bolivia’s Ministry of Cultures, Decolonisation and Depatriarchalisation

Leading Ukrainian art academy devastated by Russian air strike

The Mykhailo Boichuk Kyiv State Academy of Decorative Applied Arts and Design reportedly sustained serious damage from falling fragments of a missile

Russian authorities interrogate and detain artists on eve of presidential election

The homes and studios of more than 30 artists in at least seven cities across the country have been raided

Russia opens up new museum front in its war against Ukraine

“Liberation museum” and propaganda-rich displays aim to rewrite history and legitimise war.