Kyiv Biennial 2025
Vertical Horizon
exhibition view 
exhibition view 
exhibition view 
exhibition view 
exhibition view 
Kateryna Aliinyk, What the Heroine Wants is the Main Question, 2023 
Lesia Vasylchenko, A night without Shadow and Light without the Rippling of Waves, 2025 
Anca Benera & Arnold Estefán, Rehearsals for Peace, 2023 
Daria Koltsova, Witnesses, 2024 
Ihor Okuniev, Untitled, 2024 
Anca Benera & Arnold Estefán, Rehearsals for Peace (film still), 2023 
Stefaniia Bodnia, Coal Mine, Land Mine, The Body of Mine, 2024
The Kyiv Biennial, which celebrates its 10th anniversary in 2025, is an international project that interweaves artistic, political, and social issues. Against the backdrop of ongoing wars, colonial
continuities, and global inequalities, the Biennial offers a space for reflection, solidarity, and critical engagement. At the initiative of tranzit.at, the Lentos Kunstmuseum presents the exhibition
Vertical Horizon, conceived specifically for Linz. At the same time, further projects are taking place at the Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw, M HKA in Antwerp, the Dnipro Center for Contemporary Culture, and the Dovzhenko Centre in Kyiv.
The Vertical Horizon exhibition is based on the notion of land and landscape as poetic and political agencies. It traces their development as the visual basis of territorial identity – from marking borders and possessions to technologically armed, extractivist observation of the Earth’s depths by national and transnational agents of power. The exhibition centers on the shift from horizontal geopolitical struggles on the Earth’s surface to a vertical perspective – into geological depths and atmospheric heights, where resources are controlled and territories are monitored. Through planetary thinking, artistic research, and collective imagination, the project seeks to reclaim the agency of the Earth, opening up the perspectives beyond the hegemonic logic of violence. The exhibition venue in Linz – once home to the Hermann-Göring-Werke [Hermann Göring Steelworks] and deeply involved in the Nazi regime’s Second World War armaments industry – provides a significant space for exploring the verticals of power, traces of violence, and potential artistic subversion. Vertical Horizon presents works by Ukrainian artists in dialogue with international positions. In parallel, an exhibition at Kunstraum Memphis (on view until December 5, 2025) expands on the themes explored at the Lentos.
Curators: Serge Klymko, Sarah Jonas
This exhibition is a collaboration between Lentos, the Kyiv Biennial, and tranzit.at.
Funded by the Federal Ministry for Housing, Art, Culture, Media and Sport, ERSTE Foundation, the DAAD Artists-in-Berlin Program with funds from the German Federal Foreign Office (AA) and RIBBON International.
Artists
Kateryna Aliinyk, Anca Benera & Arnold Estefán, Stefaniia Bodnia & Jack Dove, Sergey Bratkov, Olia Fedorova, Daria Koltsova, Elena Kristofor, Ihor Okuniev, Lesia Vasylchenko
| Date | Title | Time |
|---|---|---|
| Sun 01.02 | Family Sunday Especially for families: Explore with the children’s guide and enjoy a creative afternoon in the open Danube Studio between 1:00 PM and 4:00 PM. | 1:00 pm–4:00 pm |
| Sun 01.02 | Public tour: Being a Girl*!? Duration: 60 minutes, max. 25 participants, guided tour ticket €4 (plus admission). No registration required (“first come, first served”). | 4:00 pm–5:00 pm |
| Tue 03.02 | Public tour: Being a Girl*!? + The Collection Duration: 60 minutes, max. 25 participants, guided tour ticket €4 (plus admission). No registration required (“first come, first served”). | 4:00 pm–5:00 pm |
| Thu 05.02 | Press Conference: The World Without Us The exhibition brings together artistic positions that draw on concepts such as “deep time” – time periods spanning billions of years, in which human existence is little more than a fleeting moment – and “cosmic horror”, a feeling caught between fascination and terror when faced with non-human existence that is inconceivable to our notions of time and space. | 11:00 am–12:00 pm |
| Thu 05.02 | Public tour: Being a Girl*!? Duration: 60 minutes, max. 25 participants, guided tour ticket €4 (plus admission). No registration required (“first come, first served”). | 6:00 pm–7:00 pm |
| Thu 05.02 | Opening: The World Without Us The exhibition brings together artistic positions that draw on concepts such as “deep time” – time periods spanning billions of years, in which human existence is little more than a fleeting moment – and “cosmic horror”, a feeling caught between fascination and terror when faced with non-human existence that is inconceivable to our notions of time and space. | 7:00 pm–10:00 pm |
| Fri 06.02 | Aktzeichnen im Lentos Kunstmuseum Das Lentos nutzt die inspirierende Umgebung des Kunstmuseums, um einen Kurs in der klassischen Disziplin des „Aktzeichnen“ nach Modellen anzubieten – für alle die Lust am Ausprobieren haben, die ihre Techniken verfeinern wollen und alle die es als „Newcomer“ versuchen möchten. Im Mittelpunkt steht das praktische Zeichnen vor einem Modell unter Anleitung des Künstlers Klaus Scheuringer. Dauer 120 Minuten, Kosten pro Termin (einzeln buchbar) € 14- , Anmeldung erforderlich unter T +43 732 7070 3614 oder online. | 4:00 pm–6:00 pm |
| Sat 07.02 | Lentos Atelier Children and young people between the ages of 6 and 12 have the opportunity to discover works of art, work creatively and try out different techniques in the Lentos studio. | 10:00 am–12:00 pm |
| Sat 07.02 | A Studio for All Age Groups (Fully booked) Every first Saturday each month we throw open the door of our “Atelier für Alle”, our studio for sessions with all age groups from 0 – 99. | 2:00 pm–4:00 pm |
| Sat 07.02 | Express Tour: Being a Girl*!? This tour offers an insight into the Lentos. It looks at the museum‘s history and collection of art and includes highlights of the present special exhibition. Language: English, Ticket: 3€ plus admission, duration: 45min | 4:00 pm–4:45 pm |
Kunstraum Memphis 11.11. – 5.12.2025
Cooperative Exhibition
Untere Donaulände 12, 4020 Linz
www.memphismemph.is