Paper short abstract:

This paper delves into most recent exhibitions of Ukrainian art, unveiling "wartifacts"—artworks embodying war's traces. It questions global curatorial representations and considers the status of Ukrainian artists as new embattled subjects, embodying and mediating conflict within museal spaces.

Paper long abstract:

This paper critically examines post-2022 international exhibitions of Ukrainian contemporary art. Amidst the war, the showcased art, bodies, and voices take on a new dimension, becoming metaphorical arguments in the discourse opposing authoritarian regimes. It questions how these exhibitions represent Ukraine and its people, proposing a reflection on "wartifacts" - artworks embodying physical, affective, and emotional traces of war and ruination - that emerged in the Euro-American curatorial landscape. Wartifacts diversify the range of authentic ethnographic artifacts presented as "art" (Clifford) in international museal settings.

Drawing from ethnographic and curatorial work with Ukrainian artists, the paper explores their experiences, reflecting a formation of a new group within the spectrum of "embattled subjects" in Western curatorial expression. These subjects, present in museal spaces, embody and mediate the conflict, often feeling a responsibility for "diplomatic representation" and advocacy for their country. The paper questions Ukraine's position in the geography of "curating" and "curated" cultures, still influenced by the orientalizing "Savage Sublime."

Using the recent HKW exhibition, "As though we hid the sun in the sea of stories", as a case study, the presentation addresses the curators' ambition "to counter the epistemologies of coloniality through collaborative networks." It proposes a new geographic designation for the formerly Soviet region—termed either Northern Eurasia or the Global East. The paper concludes with a reflection on the refusal of some Ukrainian artists to participate in this exhibition, emphasizing their refusal of being exhibited and "healed" (curare) in the proposed way, which was insufficiently problematized within the project.