August in Kyiv and Lviv offers viewers not just a change of route, but an opportunity to delve into the depths of contemporary artistic practices. This month, galleries and museums are opening their doors for conversations about memory, the transformation of the urban environment, and the inner need to preserve joy despite circumstances. The Wave RBC.UA selection features nine relevant exhibitions that explore the experience of living in prolonged uncertainty.
Memory in Concrete and OSB Boards
Artist Natalka Dyachenko chose an unusual format for her photo exhibition. The exhibition appeared not in a traditional gallery hall, but on OSB boards that temporarily covered the windows of the Hinaus space, which were blown out during a Russian attack. The project is based on a series of photographs of Kyiv's concrete flower beds, which the author has been creating since 2023.
Through these everyday urban objects, the artist explores the cyclical nature of destruction and restoration, as well as the interaction between nature and humans. The exhibition will exist until the last flower bed remains in the photographs, turning into a chronic document of loss and memory.
Urban Architecture as a Stage
The new space The Naked Room opens with a personal exhibition by Karina Synitsa. The exhibition features paintings and graphics from 2024–2025 dedicated to Kyiv, Kharkiv, and Dnipro. For the artist, urban architecture becomes a stage on which life unfolds during the war.
Familiar streets, embankments, and courtyards in her works look simultaneously resilient and vulnerable. One of Synitsa's works was created directly in the gallery space: it depicts the moment of transplanting flowers near a fountain on the Kharkiv embankment, highlighting the fragility of everyday rituals.
Dialogue at a Distance
The photo exhibition by Oleksandr Burlaka and Sasha Kurmaz is structured as a conversation between two authors working in different parts of Europe. They juxtapose documentary shots created during the same period but under different geographical and life circumstances. Thus, a story emerges about the experience of being in Ukraine and abroad, about the closeness and distance between two realities.
Both authors work extensively with the urban environment: Sasha Kurmaz focuses on public transformations, while Oleksandr Burlaka explores architecture through photography and spatial design. At the end of the year, the exhibition works are planned to be presented in the format of a photobook.
Joy as a Conscious Choice
The major project at PinchukArtCentre invites viewers to look at joy not as a way to deny a complex reality, but as a conscious choice and a manifestation of humanity. The foundation of the exhibition is documentary evidence collected by Marine Corps veteran Hleb Strizhko, who survived Russian captivity.
Personal stories are transformed into sculptures and installations within the art center space. The project involves Ukrainian and international artists, including Alevtina Kakhidze, Anna Zvyagintseva, Kateryna Lisovenko, Tamara Turlyun, Roman Khimey, and Yarema Malashchuk. The authors speak about loss, anxiety, loneliness, and the search for support, without attempting to create a chronicle of specific events.
The Absurd of Everyday Life and New Routes
A group exhibition at Voloshyn Gallery explores absurdity as part of modern everyday life. The central image of the project is a room—a place of protection and danger—where familiar objects lose their purpose, turning into artifacts of a new reality. The exhibition's title reminds us of a simple physical action: to open the door inside, one must first take a step back.
Another project is dedicated to the personal perception of the city and the routes people take every day. Participants transferred their own paths through Lviv onto canvases—from home to the creative studio and the Municipal Art Center. The works feature places that provide a sense of safety and details that usually go unnoticed.
