Kyiv Biennial 2023: a cross-European event put together ‘against all odds’

An installation view of Wolfgang Tillmans’ Weak Signal IV (2014) at the Kyiv Biennial 2023
Photo: eSeL.at – Lorenz Seidler
From breaking news and insider insights to exhibitions and events around the world, the team at The Art Newspaper picks apart the art world’s big stories with the help of special guests. An award-winning podcast hosted by Ben Luke, The Week in Art is sponsored by Christie’s.
This week: the first Kyiv Biennial since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine last year is taking place in various locations across the wartorn country as well as a host of neighbouring European states. We talk to the co-curator, Georg Schöllhammer, about this year’s event.
As refugees and displaced people continue to dominate the news, a global sound art project, Migration Sounds, aims to explore and reimagine the sounds of human migration and settlement. We speak to Stuart Fowkes, the founder of Cities and Memory, who has conceived the project with the University of Oxford’s Centre on Migration, Policy and Society (Compas).
Jem Perucchini, Rebirth of a Nation (detail), commissioned by Art on the Underground
Courtesy of the artist; Corvi Mora, London. Photo: Andrea Rossetti
And this episode’s Work of the Week is Rebirth of a Nation, a mural made for Brixton Underground Station in London by the Ethiopian-Italian artist Jem Perucchini, which is unveiled next week. Jessica Vaughan, the senior curator of Art on the Underground, tells us about the commission.

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