Overview
- The work by artist Zhanna Kadyrova was shown on Prague’s Jan Palach Square with a screening of her documentary VPO and a public discussion.
- Organizers say the piece will travel to Warsaw, Vienna, Berlin, Brussels and Paris before the 61st Venice Biennale opens on May 9.
- Ukraine’s pavilion centers on the theme Security Guarantees, raising questions about assurances linked to the country’s past renunciation of its nuclear arsenal.
- The initiative is supported by Ukraine’s foreign and culture ministries, UNESCO and Sushko Philanthropy, with the Prague event backed by the Ukrainian Embassy and the Rudolfinum.
- Kadyrova and local workers dismantled and evacuated the sculpture from Pokrovsk in August 2024 as fighting approached, and Ukraine’s ambassador called it a symbol of hope, dignity and resilience.