On June 13, Jam Factory Art Center opens THIS IS FINE)) — an exhibition about self-organized art initiatives in Ukraine as a mode of existence, survival, and collective action in conditions of constant instability.
THIS IS FINE)) is an exhibition about work that continues even when everything around is on fire, and about communities that, despite the fragility of their own existence, continue doing what they believe is important.
From curators
We sit in a burning house, staring at a yellow dog with big eyes and a detached gaze. The dog tells us, “This is fine.” And it is.
“This is Fine))” is a short and socially acceptable way to describe a condition in which catastrophe becomes the everyday background of life and work. It is an attempt to look at self-organization not as a heroic exception, but as a basic mode of existence within the contemporary Ukrainian art scene. It is an attempt to speak about self-organized initiatives as structures that emerge despite the absence of stability. An attempt to highlight work that almost always takes place under conditions of limited resources, blurred roles, and the constant need to simultaneously invent an institution and survive within it.
It is impossible to precisely measure people’s motivation to invest themselves in building alternative artistic infrastructure, just as it is impossible to pinpoint the exact moment when a community begins to shape an environment around itself. Yet self-organization always responds to two questions: when? and where? That is why, within the exhibition, we trace the signs of this initiative across time and space.
“Time” is concentrated around a timeline that records the emergence, transformation, and disappearance of independent artistic initiatives in Ukraine. In a sense, it is an attempt to archive what usually exists in a state of permanent temporariness: between deadlines, relocations, occupations, grant applications, mobilization, curatorial conflicts, rent payments, military actions, and yet another notice of losing a space.
From 2014 to the present, self-organization has ceased to be merely a method of cultural production and has instead become a mechanism of rapid response. Such communities are often able to act faster than institutions: working with sensitive topics, adapting quickly to change, and creating horizontal connections where official structures prove too slow, outdated, or ineffective.
If “Time” captures what self-organized initiatives leave behind, then “Space” shows how self-organized initiatives from different regions of Ukraine continue to exist today. Self-organization traditionally slips into basements, hangars, corridors, bathrooms, courtyards, dysfunctional premises, and temporarily vacant spaces — or exists without any permanent location at all.
Whether fueled by enemy fire or inner determination, when everything is burning, self-organized initiatives have one response: everything is fine)). Behind this irony there is no indifference or escapism — only the work of communities that, despite the fragility of their own existence, continue doing what they believe is important.
Curatorial group
Nastia Khlestova, Anton Tkachenko, Anastasia Shergina, Ihor Tymoshchuk
Self-organized artistic initiatives
Balkonna Gallery, Vysoka Kimnata, Gangrena Gallery, Gareleya Neotodryosh, Generator Room, Dniprostir, Self-organized Initiatives for the Preservation of Monumental Art, Kvartyra 14, Kultura Medialna, Kruchi, Land Art Symposium “Borderland Space”, Mizhkimnatnyi Prostir, Nahirna 22, Variable Name, PICH, Platforma TU, Proniknennya, Autonomia Squat, Tvorche Nezhit, Totem, Hlibzavod, Bunker 2.0, Depot 12_59, Instytut avtomatyky, Noch, Open Place.
Opening hours and ticket prices
Exhibition opening June 13, 2026
Exhibition schedule: June 13, 2026 – August 9, 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.