ABOUT THE EXHIBITION
Looking into the Gaps is an exhibition cycle that approaches the history and present of Ukrainian art as an ornament of ruptures, losses, and absences, in which what exists serves merely as a frame for what is missing.
The cycle consists of separate chapters, previously presented at Voloshyn Gallery in Kyiv (2024); the Artsvit and DCCC spaces in Dnipro (2025); ART FRONT Gallery in Tokyo, Japan (2026); as well as landscape exhibitions in Sokołowsko (Poland), Berlin (Germany), and on the island of Teshima in Japan. The aim of the cycle is to reflect on the process of moving along a conscious path composed largely of obstacles, and on the construction of a coherent narrative that breaks off again and again.
The central motif of the Lviv part of the project, presented at Jam Factory Art Center, is the theme of loneliness and the relationship between the “I” and the “we” as shaped by the experience of war.
“The history of Ukrainian art is a torn history and, at the same time, a history of gaps. Interrupted narratives, destroyed works, repressed authors, loud silence, rewriting the past according to the new dominant ideology, tragedies of conformism and the virtuosity of self-justification, breaking oneself over the knee, changing sides in the middle of an argument, changing names halfway through, dissociative identity. Or martyrdom through self-immolation, followed by turning ashes into bronze. And bronze is known to steal the meaning from ashes every time. Is it possible to wander through a landscape of catastrophe? Are there flâneurs on blood-soaked lands? This exhibition answers in the affirmative,” says Nikita Kadan.
The curator shares that work on the fourth exhibition began with reflections on the fate of the categories of “we” and “I” in wartime. Self-restraint and external restrictions, self-censorship, mutual surveillance — these are the themes from which cracks spread and around which the social fabric tears. During the preparation of the exhibition, the theme of loneliness gradually crystallized in a world where a new normality, entirely permeated by war, has taken shape. These reflections led to a whole range of lonelinesses: from loneliness within a constantly rewritten history to loneliness within a social contract that is continuously betrayed. As well as loneliness between the history of art and the hysteria of artistic life. And, returning to the beginning — about “us,” about that indissoluble residue of unity without which everything will be lost.
Artists
Andrii Boyko, Andrii Boiarov, Andrii Sahaidakovskyi, Anton Saienko, Attila Hazhlinsky, Bohdan Sokur, Bohdana Kosmina, Vasyl Tkachenko, Vesela Naidenova, Vladyslav Plisetskyi, Volodymyr Vorotnov, Halyna Zhehulska, Davyd Chychkan, Dana Kavelina, Zhanna Kadyrova, Zoriana Kozak, Illia Todurkin, Kateryna Yermоlaieva, Katia Kopieikina, Kseniia Hnylytska, Maiia Nikolaieva, Marharyta Polovinko, Mariia Prymachenko, Marta Syrko, Myroslav Yahoda, Mykhailo Palinchak, Nikita Kadan, Oleh Holosii, Oleh Perkovskyi, Oleksandr Hnylytskyi, Olia Yeriemieieva, Pavlo Bedzir, Pavlo Kovach, Pavlo Makov, Sasha Dolhyi, Sevilia Nariman-Kyzy, Serhii Anufriev, Stanislav Turina, Fedir Tetianych, Yurii Bolsa, Yurii Izdryk, Yurii Leiderman, Yarema Malashchuk and Roman Khimei, Yaroslav Futymskyi.
Project architect: Bohdana Kosmina
OPENING HOURS AND TICKET PRICES
Opening: February 21, 2026, at 7:00 PM. Free admission.
Exhibition schedule:
February 21, 2026 – May 17, 2026
Opening hours: Mon – closed, Tue-Fri 12:00-20:00, Sat-Sun 11:00-20:00
*opening hours will vary, details coming soon on the website and social media of Jam Factory Art Center
Tickets can be purchased at the Art Center’s reception. Every Tuesday, entry is free for all visitors.
Tickets: 200 UAH
Half-price tickets for schoolchildren, students, internally displaced persons and senior citizens.
Free entrance for children under 7 years old, people with disabilities, veterans, military personnel, students of the Academies of Arts, Trush College, and Lviv cultural studies departments.
The exhibition operates during power outages.
ABOUT THE CURATOR
Nikita Kadan is an artist and curator working with painting, graphics, and installation, often collaborating across disciplines with architects, sociologists, and human rights activists. He is a member of the artistic group R.E.P. (Revolutionary Experimental Space) and one of the founders of the curatorial-activist collective Khudrada. He is the recipient of the 2022 Taras Shevchenko National Prize of Ukraine and was named one of the most influential artists in the contemporary art world by the British publication ArtReview in 2025.