Russia-Ukraine war

Ukraine gives its troops a handbook on protecting cultural property

The guidelines aim to make international laws readily accessible to soldiers on the ground, and reflects Ukraine's experience in the war against Russia

Opinion

Comment | Why a country should invest in art—even when it’s under attack

While physically defending their country, Ukrainian artist’s work provides oxygen for urgent issues that demand attention and dialogue, writes Björn Geldhof, the artistic director of the PinchukArtCentre, Kyiv

Björn Geldhof

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

Now is the time to honour not censor Russia’s dissident artists

The director of the Zimmerli Art Museum, which is home to the world's foremost collection of Soviet nonconformist art, says recent calls to censor all Russian art in light of the war in Ukraine oversimplify the issue

'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

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
Sponsored byChristie's

Leigh Bowery at Tate Modern, Ukraine’s art world three years on, Max Beckmann and the Gothic Modern—podcast

Celebrating the life and work of the Australian performance artist, how Ukrainian artists and institutions are continuing to resist, and a close look at a pair of works from an Oslo exhibition

Kyiv Biennial 2023: a cross-European event put together ‘against all odds’

Plus, a project exploring the sounds of migration and Jem Perucchini’s Art on the Underground commission

Sponsored byChristie's

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

Sponsored byChristie's

Artists

‘Everything indicates’ murder of Russian dissident artist in Poland was a political killing

The Polish prime minister said the murder of Robert ⁠Kuzovkov would “constitute an act of state terrorism” if Russia was found to be behind it

Aleksandr Dotsenko, artist jailed in Russia over anti-war supermarket protest, dies

The Ukraine-born artist died of a heart attack, less than two years after being convicted for placing anti-war slogans in a shop in the Leningrad region

‘He is a hero to me’: artist speaks out after Ukrainian athlete barred from Winter Olympics for commemorative helmet

Iryna Prots, who created the imagery on Vladyslav Heraskevych’s helmet—which honours Ukraine’s war dead—says she feels the decision to disqualify him violates the Olympic spirit

‘Repressionist’ artist Pavel Krisevich forced to flee Russia

The performance artist, who has faced multiple arrests, now lives in Montenegro

Heritage

Russian drone attack on Ukraine damages several cultural sites

A monastery in Kyiv was set ablaze by a missile strike in the latest offensive against the country, with residential buildings also targeted

Unesco-protected monastery in Lviv damaged by Russian drone strike

The 17th-century Bernardine Monastery was one of several buildings hit in the Ukrainian city’s historic centre, which is a Unesco World Heritage Site

Ukraine adopts resolution to aid evacuation of artefacts from front line

The government's decision to simplify the process of removing millions of objects in high-risk zones comes as the war with Russia enters its fifth year

Ukrainian heritage fund takes shape as war enters fifth year

Countries including the UK and Denmark have pledged to contribute to the new Ukraine Cultural Heritage Fund

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

Art Market

Hauser & Wirth cleared of Russian sanction charges

The gallery was charged after selling a Condo work on paper to the collector Alexander Popov

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

Ukrainian dealer gives the country’s emerging artists a foothold in Hollywood

Lia Snisarenko launched Art Axcess in her home last September to showcase contemporary art from Ukraine

Interviews

‘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

‘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

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

Chairman of Trump’s US Commission of Fine Arts participates in ‘Russian Davos’

Rodney Mims Cook Jr, the chairman of the commission overseeing Trump's makeover of Washington, DC is the first US official to attend in nearly a decade—and spoke on a panel calling for a “dialogue of cultures”

Venice Biennale’s jury resigns

The five-person jury resigned amid an escalating dispute over the participation of Israel and Russia at this year’s Biennale

The art of politics: how global conflicts are playing out in this year's Venice Biennale

Israel and Russia's return to the Biennale has sparked threats of disruption

Russia’s pavilion at Venice Biennale will be closed if it features propaganda, city’s mayor says

Luigi Brugnaro makes clear however that he feels the event should be a place for “diplomacy and openness”

EU threatens to pull funding from Venice Biennale over return of Russian pavilion

The move comes after Russia's participation sparked outcry from European governments and arts professionals

Pussy Riot slams Russia’s return to Venice Biennale

Russia’s decision to put on a show in Venice has prompted criticism from Russian dissidents and Ukrainian artists

Leading Russian archaeologist arrested in Poland over Crimean excavations

Ukraine has requested the extradition of the State Hermitage Museum’s Alexander Butyagin, who seized artefacts including ancient Greek coins

Dangling sculpture—‘evacuated’ from Russian-Ukrainian frontline—will be focus of Ukraine's pavilion at Venice Biennale

Suspended from a crane, the work is meant as a metaphor for the country's ongoing precarious situation during the war

More artists killed in Ukraine as anniversary of full-scale Russian invasion approaches

Artists Lana Chornohorska and Yurii Kostyshyn and philosophy student Timofey Anufriev have all died in recent weeks

Pussy Riot branded ‘extremist organisation’ by Russian court

The ruling will effectively ban the feminist punk protest collective's activities in Russia

‘An entertainment pavilion on bones’: new Russian museum opens in occupied Mariupol

Officially known as Pole Bitvy (Battlefield), Russian state media has described the space as an “interactive art facility”

Artist studios in Kyiv damaged by Russian drone strike for second time

Nahirna22, a 30-studio space led by Gen Z artists, had recently reopened following a similar attack in August

Italy condemns ‘shameful’ comments from Russia after medieval tower collapse

A Russian foreign ministry spokesperson linked the caving in of Rome’s Torre dei Conti—which led to the death of a worker—to Italy’s support for Ukraine, sparking backlash

‘Proof that life goes on’: meet some of the people working to rescue—and re-energise—Ukrainian culture

As Russian attacks continue, art is being made, commissioned—and saved—by citizens and organisations

Ragnar Kjartansson's politically charged soap opera—halted by the Russia-Ukraine war—goes on show in Reykjavík

Offering commentary on international relations and soft power, the ambitious video work features an 81-episode recreation of the American TV show, “Santa Barbara”

Pussy Riot members sentenced to prison in absentia over anti-war performances

Diana Burkot, one of the five members of the activist collective who have been handed prison terms by a Moscow court, has released a strong statement in response

Press photo of world leaders at ‘coalition of the willing’ meeting acquired by Dusseldorf's Kunstpalast

The unusual move will see the image displayed alongside contemporary art, highlighting the role of photojournalism in visual history

Ukrainian installation at Burning Man destroyed by dust storm

The support structure of “Black Cloud”, a 100ft-tall assemblage of 45 interconnected forms, was broken in half by the hurricane-force winds that swept across the Black Rock Desert

‘Their resolve is incredibly strong’: Ai Weiwei visits soldiers on Ukrainian front lines

As Ukraine’s president prepared for a high-stakes visit to Washington, DC, the Chinese artist and activist visited Eastern Ukraine

Ukrainian ‘artist of pain’ David Chichkan killed on frontline

Known for his anarchist ideals, Chichkan is the latest in a string of Ukrainian cultural workers killed since Russia’s full-scale invasion

Russia charges Estonian museum director with ‘rehabilitating Nazism’ over Putin-Hitler banner

Maria Smorževskihh-Smirnova of the Narva Museum has been targeted over a poster featuring a composite image of the two men

‘A dialogue about rationality and irrationality’: Ai Weiwei to present new installation in Ukraine

The Chinese artist’s work, which is inspired by Leonardo da Vinci illustrations, will be housed in a former Soviet-era exposition hall in Kyiv

US billionaire Howard Buffett and Ukrainian Railways team up to create ‘art train’ exploring war-time resilience

The train—which is due to travel across Ukraine—features photographs Buffett took during his 19 trips to the country between 2022 and 2025

Lesia Vasylchenko wins the PinchukArtCentre Prize

The video and installation artist donated her prize money to the Ukrainian armed forces

‘Art is an important way of depicting these atrocities’: London show shines a light on sexual violence in conflict

The Imperial War Museum exhibition, which has been six years in the making, is the first major UK museum show to explore the under-reported topic