Preparing Passages: Before and After The Independence Day Exhibition

‘Preparing Passages: Before and After The Independence Day Exhibition’ united Ukrainian, German, Spanish, Austrian, and British artists at Charim Schleifmühlgasse in Vienna (11 - 25 March 2022) as the second part of the Lviv Municipal Art Centre’s exhibition celebrating the 30th anniversary of Ukraine’s independence, commemorated on 24 August in honour of the Declaration of Independence of 1991. Later, it was showcased in the Volksgarten Düsseldorf by the Theatre for Hopes and Expectations – Prykarpattian Theatre (12 August - 30 October 2022).

Both exhibitions featured maps that trace the artists' journeys before and after the onset of the large-scale Russian invasion. The paper collages, made up of photographs, texts, the Ukrainian Soviet Encyclopedia, and various archival materials, converge into a diary that offers a personal narrative of geopolitical changes.

In Düsseldorf, the Theatre of Hopes and Expectations constructed a temporary architectural structure in the Volksgarten, intentionally kept open during its building process—a gesture of solidarity with Ukrainians who are rebuilding their homes after the destruction wrought by Russia.

Prykarpattian Theatre, an artists’ collective with shared connections to Kolomyia in western Ukraine, reflects on the imprints of the region’s historical occupations and engages in a trans-local dialogue. Although officially founded in 2022 following the Russian invasion, the collective's collaboration commenced six months earlier during the development of the Independence Day Exhibition in Lviv.

'Day of the Miner in Myrnohrad — a short film by Yarema Malashchuk and Vicki Thornton — captures the celebration of the Day of the Miner public holiday, held on the last Sunday in August, in Myrnohrad in the Donetsk region. The holiday was last peacefully observed at the end of summer 2021. The film premiered at Charim Schleifmühlgasse, Vienna, in March 2022 as a silent, continuous loop.