{"id":13220,"date":"2026-01-29T16:34:47","date_gmt":"2026-01-29T13:34:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pastfutureart.org\/what-we-talk-about-when-we-talk-about-crimea\/"},"modified":"2026-04-13T17:02:57","modified_gmt":"2026-04-13T14:02:57","slug":"what-we-talk-about-when-we-talk-about-crimea","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pastfutureart.org\/en\/what-we-talk-about-when-we-talk-about-crimea\/","title":{"rendered":"WHAT WE TALK ABOUT WHEN WE TALK ABOUT CRIMEA"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n
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From March 20 to June 28, 2026, the exhibition <\/b>What We Talk About When We Talk About Crimea<\/i><\/b> will take place at the Ujazdowski Castle Centre for Contemporary Art<\/a> in Warsaw. The project aims to tell the world about Crimea through the work of Ukrainian artists, in particular Crimean Tatar artists. The exhibition has been commissioned by the Ukrainian Institute and produced by the Past \/ Future \/ Art memory culture platform with the support of the Partnership Fund for a Resilient Ukraine. Curators: Kateryna Semenyuk, Oksana Dovgopolova, and Alim Aliev.<\/b><\/p>\n <\/div>\r\n \r\n \r\n <\/div>\r\n <\/div>\r\n\r\n<\/section>\r\n\r\n\n\n\r\n

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What do we talk about when we talk about Crimea? Sea or steppe? The Yalta Conference of 1945 or the Scythian state of antiquity? The Artek Camp for Young Pioneers or the Soviet genocide of the Crimean Tatars in 1944? Vacations by the sea or lost homes? What we see depends on who is looking. The experiences of encountering Crimea can be so different that it might seem people are remembering different continents. Why is this so?<\/span><\/p>\n

The Crimean Peninsula in the Black Sea has been a meeting point of different civilizations for millennia. It is the homeland of the Crimean Tatars, who once had their own state there; now, they are once again experiencing colonial pressure. It is a peninsula saturated with fighting, tension, love, and hope. The exhibition presents contemporary Ukrainian artists\u2019 reflections on the feeling of loss of Crimea after the Russian occupation of the peninsula in 2014.<\/span><\/p>\n

Participants include artists of different generations; some of them were born in Crimea, others experienced Crimea as part of their travels. Sevil\u00e2 Nariman-qizi<\/strong> and Emine Ziyatdin<\/strong> contemplate different dimensions of Crimean Tatar identity amidst the loss of home, and Rustem Skybin<\/strong> adds the theme of resistance and protection of one\u2019s native land. Yuri Yefanov<\/strong> transforms the memory of his hometown, Hurzuf, which is unreachable today, into a digital simulation of public space, not so much recording the past as creating possible scenarios of the future. With gratitude and sadness, Anton Shebetko<\/strong> speaks about the LGBT+ community in the rural settlement of Simeiz that used to gather on the local \u201cwild beaches\u201d and in Yezhy caf\u00e9; this world of freedom does not exist the way it did before 2014. The paintings and graphic works of Roman Mykhailov<\/strong>, Elmira Shemsedinova<\/strong>, and Oleksii Borysov<\/strong> in different ways refer the viewer to the image of the Crimean horizon, something it is important to examine closely. Vitaliy Kokhan\u2019s<\/strong> kinetic sculpture captures the flickering between one symbol for the peninsula’s significance as a tourist destination and another for the sorrow, resilience, and courage of the Crimean Tatar culture. Oleg Tistol\u2019s<\/strong> ironic reflections on the stereotypical symbols of seaside holidays are embodied in a work from his series <\/span>Southern Coast of Crimea<\/span><\/i>. Meanwhile, a somewhat phantasmagoric landscape by Pavlo Makov<\/strong> is one of the artist\u2019s earliest pieces to address a major throughline in his practice, the theme of place, and its interpretation from cartographic, topographical, and metaphorical perspectives. Vlodko Kaufman<\/strong> and Khalil Khalilov\u2019s<\/strong> meditative video attests to the Crimean Tatars desire to return home despite the imperial efforts to erase the very memory of their existence.<\/span><\/p>\n

Ukrainian artists reflect on what Crimea is for Ukraine. In the Ujazdowski Castle, we ask: what is Crimea for Europe? Adam Mickiewicz once sorrowfully looked at the remains of Crimean Tatar fortresses, feeling their reality turn into the past and remembering his own homeland. Today, what does Europe think about when it thinks about Crimea? And what does Crimea think about?<\/span><\/p>\n <\/div>\r\n \r\n \r\n <\/div>\r\n <\/div>\r\n\r\n<\/section>\r\n\r\n\n\n\r\n

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Pavlo Makov, Simferopol Landscape, 1988, etching<\/p>\r\n <\/div>\r\n

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Pavlo Makov, Simferopol Landscape, 1988, etching<\/p>\r\n <\/figcaption>\r\n <\/figure>\r\n <\/a>\r\n\r\n <\/div>\r\n \r\n

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Yuri Yefanov, I Watched the Sinusoidal Motion of Blue Electronic Waves until I Sensed Their Smell, 2025, photo from the exhibition of shortlisted artists for the PinchukArtCentre Prize 2025, photo by Ela Bialkowska, OKNO Studio for PinchukArtCentre \/ PinchukArtCentre Prize 2025<\/p>\r\n <\/div>\r\n

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Yuri Yefanov, I Watched the Sinusoidal Motion of Blue Electronic Waves until I Sensed Their Smell, 2025, photo from the exhibition of shortlisted artists for the PinchukArtCentre Prize 2025, photo by Ela Bialkowska, OKNO Studio for PinchukArtCentre \/ PinchukArtCentre Prize 2025<\/p>\r\n <\/figcaption>\r\n <\/figure>\r\n <\/a>\r\n\r\n <\/div>\r\n \r\n

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Pavlo Makov, Simferopol Landscape, 1988, etching
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Photo by Ela Bialkowska, OKNO Studio for PinchukArtCentre \/ PinchukArtCentre Prize 2025<\/p>\r\n <\/div>\r\n <\/div>\r\n <\/div>\r\n <\/div>\r\n\r\n <\/div>\r\n\r\n <\/section>\r\n\n\n\r\n

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Anton Shebetko, from the Simeiz series, photo, 2022\u2014ongoing<\/p>\r\n <\/div>\r\n

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Anton Shebetko, from the Simeiz series, photo, 2022\u2014ongoing<\/p>\r\n <\/figcaption>\r\n <\/figure>\r\n <\/a>\r\n\r\n <\/div>\r\n \r\n

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Vlodko Kaufman, Khalil Khalilov, still from the video Bi\u00f1 Ba\u015f, 2025<\/p>\r\n <\/div>\r\n

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Vlodko Kaufman, Khalil Khalilov, still from the video Bi\u00f1 Ba\u015f, 2025<\/p>\r\n <\/figcaption>\r\n <\/figure>\r\n <\/a>\r\n\r\n <\/div>\r\n \r\n

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Anton Shebetko, from the Simeiz series, photo, 2022\u2014ongoing
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TEAM<\/strong><\/p>\n

Curators<\/span>
\n<\/span>Kateryna Semenyuk, Oksana Dovgopolova, Alim Aliev<\/span><\/p>\n

Project Management<\/span>
\n<\/span>Yuliia Sai, Kseniia Paltsun, Anastasiya Paseka<\/span><\/p>\n

Project Management <\/span>on Behalf of the Ukrainian Institute<\/span>
\nAnastasiia Manuliak<\/span><\/p>\n

Curatorial Support on Behalf of the Ujazdowski Castle Centre for Contemporary Art<\/span>
\n<\/span>Ewa Gorz\u0105dek<\/span><\/p>\n

Communications<\/span>
\nKateryna Iholkina, Oleksandra Holoborodko, Kateryna Shylo, Agnieszka Tiutiunik, Agnieszka Niedzielak-Kowalska, Karolina Gawro\u0144ska<\/span><\/p>\n

Texts for the brochure<\/span>
\nLizaveta German<\/p>\n <\/div>\r\n

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 <\/p>\n

Translation<\/span>
\nOlesia Kamyshnykova, Joanna Majewska-Grabowska, Mamure Chabanova<\/p>\n

Copy Editing<\/span>
\nSvitlana Horska, Clemens Poole, Olha Tkachenko<\/p>\n

Exhibition Design<\/span>
\nOleksandr Burlaka<\/p>\n

Graphic Design and Layout<\/span>
\n3Z Studio<\/p>\n

Coordination<\/span>
\nJoanna Saran, Brygida Czartoryska<\/p>\n

Technical Department<\/span>
\nAdam Bubel, Grzegorz Gajewski, Krzysztof Kl\u00f3sek, Siergiej Kowalonok, Bartosz Paw\u0142owski, Pawe\u0142 S\u0142owik, Stanis\u0142aw Wieczorek<\/p>\n <\/div>\r\n \r\n <\/div>\r\n <\/div>\r\n\r\n<\/section>\r\n\r\n\n\n\r\n

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