Curators Hedwig Saxenhuber and Georg Schöllhammer have announced the second edition of the Kiev Biennale will indeed open in September this year under the title The School of Kiev, following much turmoil. Originally scheduled for 2014, the biennale was first postponed, then cancelled by its organisers because of fundraising problems and the ongoing violence and instability in the country.
This unilateral decision was contested by the curators who decided to carry the project out, and gathered funding from various European governments, foundations, and institutions to compensate for the withdrawal of the Ukrainian government and its main venue Mystetskyi Arsenale.
Featuring over 50 participating artists, including Hito Steyerl, Pawel Althamer, Sanja Iveković, Ahmet Ögüt and Neïl Beloufa, the biennale will be divided into six different ‘schools’ or platforms, each raising issues relevant for Ukrainian and European society, as well as political reactions to current challenges.
The School of Kiev takes place in different locations across Kiev from 8 September – 1 November.
3 July.
