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 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 the ashes into bronze. And bronze is known to steal the meaning from ashes every time. Is it possible to wander the landscape of catastrophe? Are there flankers in the bloody lands? The answer to this exhibition is 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, Andrij Bojarov, Andriy Sahaidakovsky, Anton Saenko, Attila Hazhlinsky, Bohdan Sokur, Bogdana Kosmina, Vasyl Tkachenko (Lyakh), Vesela Naydenova, Vladislav Plisetskiy, Vova Vorotniov, Halyna Zhehulska, Davyd Chychkan, Dana Kavelina, Zhanna Kadyrova, Zoriana Kozak, Illia Todurkin, Kateryna Yermolayeva, Katya Kopeikina, Ksenia Hnylytska, Maya Nikolaieva, Marharyta Polovinko, Maria Prymachenko, Marta Syrko, Myroslav Yahoda, Mykhaylo Palinchak, Nikita Kadan, Oleg Holosiy, Oleg Perkowsky, Oleksandr Hnylytskyi, Olia Yeriemieieva, Pavlo Bedzir, Pavlo Kovach, Pavlo Makov, Sasha Dolhyi, Sevilâ Nariman-qızı, Sergey Anufriev, Stanislav Turina, Fedir Tetianych, Yuriy Bolsa, Yuriy Izdryk, Yuri Leiderman, Yarema Malashchuk and Roman Khimei, Yaroslav Futymskyi.
Project architect: Bohdana Kosmina
OPENING HOURS AND TICKET PRICES
Exhibition schedule: February 21, 2026 – May 17, 2026
Opening hours: Mon – closed, Tue-Fri 12:00-20:00, Sat-Sun 11:00-20:00
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 was born in Kyiv in 1982. Graduated from the National Academy of Fine Arts and Architecture, where he studied in the painting department under the guidance of Professor M. A. Storozhenko in the studio of monumental art. He creates sculptures and installations, as well as paintings and graphic pieces. In his practice, he explores themes of Ukrainian history, the politics of memory, and socio-political processes in the post-Soviet space. He is a member of the R.E.P. artists’ group and the curatorial and activist association Hudrada. He lives and works in Kyiv.