Still Joy: Ukrainian Resilience at Venice Biennale 2026

The Victor Pinchuk Foundation and PinchukArtCentre will present 'Still Joy – From Ukraine Into the World' as an official Collateral Event of the 61st Venice Biennale, from May 9 to August 1, 2026, at Palazzo Contarini Polignac. The exhibition explores joy as a form of resistance, drawing on testimonies from Ukrainian storyteller Hlib Stryzhko, a marine, veteran, and former prisoner of war. Participating artists include Kateryna Aliinyk, Piotr Armianovski, Janet Cardiff and George Bures Miller, Julian Charrière, Tacita Dean, Ryan Gander, Gabrielle Goliath, Nikita Kadan, Zhanna Kadyrova, Alevtina Kakhidze, Roman Khimei and Yarema Malashchuk, Pavlo Kovach, Bogdana Kosmina, Katya Lesiv, Kateryna Lysovenko, Simone Post, Ashfika Rahman, Daniel Turner, Álvaro Urbano, Lesia Vasylchenko, and Oleksiy Sai with Yury Gruzinov. The show begins with a video installation by Malashchuk and Khimei depicting rave scenes in Kyiv before and during the war. Other highlights include an immersive installation by Simone Post made of real candy, a film by Tacita Dean titled 'Se fossi nell’Adlon' (2025) featuring Ukrainian artist Boris Mikhailov and his wife Vita, and a tattoo studio by Alevtina Kakhidze where visitors can leave permanent marks. The exhibition concludes with a monumental painting by Nikita Kadan depicting a 'silent rave.' Curated by Bjorn Geldhof and Oleksandra Pogrebnyak, the show emphasizes joy as fragile yet enduring, rooted in Ukraine but extending globally.