Barbara Kruger installs typographic work on Ukrainian train cars

Barbara Kruger, the American artist known for her text-based works, has created a public art installation on an Intercity train in Ukraine. Titled "Untitled (Another Again)" and curated by Maria Isserlis, the work was unveiled on May 1 and will be on view until July 14. Commissioned by the NGO Ribbon International in collaboration with Ukrzaliznytsia (Ukrainian Railways), the piece features Kruger's signature Futura Bold typography in red, white, and black, translated into Ukrainian and applied to the train cars. The text, a poetic sequence of contrasts—"another day, another night, another darkness, another light"—addresses themes of time, loss, and hope. Kruger's choice of a train as medium is significant: with Ukraine's airspace closed due to war, trains are the primary means of escape and humanitarian transport. The work references Ukrainian avant-garde artist Vasyl Yermylov, who painted revolutionary slogans on trains in the 1920s. Kruger, born in 1945 in Newark, New Jersey, and a Golden Lion for lifetime achievement in 2005, has long used public space for political and social commentary. Her previous public works include "Untitled (Blind idealism is…)" on the High Line in New York (2016), which adapted a phrase by Frantz Fanon. The new installation in Ukraine continues her practice of intervening in urban and transit spaces, here engaging with the realities of war and displacement.