One Year War

The Empty Rooms of the Khanenko Museum in Kyiv

Parallel to our exhibition “Meeting Liebermann”, this spring we will explore a topic of great topical importance in the former dining room of the Liebermann Villa. The Russian war of aggression has now been raging in Ukraine for more than a year. Countless cultural institutions now have to fear for their treasures – including one of the most important Ukranian art museum, the Khanenko Museum in Kyiv. Immedediately afte the outbreak of war the precious collection could be evacuated. The Kyiv-based photographer Yurii Stefanyak was able to document the rooms of the empty museum in the spring of 2022. From March to July we will show a selection of these photographs, supplemented by images of destruction taken in the same rooms shortly following the attacks on Kyiv in October 2022.

Highlights

Yurii Stefanyak, Leere Vitrinen im Khanenko-Museum in Kyiv, Februar 2022
Yurii Stefanyak, Leere Wände im Khanenko-Museum in Kyiv, Februar 2022
Yurii Stefanyak, Leere Vitrinen im Khanenko-Museum in Kyiv, Februar 2022
Yurii Stefanyak, Leere Wände im Khanenko-Museum in Kyiv, Februar 2022

About the exhibition

The history of the Liebermann family is marked by persecution and war. The summer house on Wannsee was evacuated after it was confiscated by the Nazi regime in 1940, and the interior furnishings were lost. The Max Liebermann Society took over an empty building when it established its museum between 2002 and 2006. Today the villa is a place of remembrance and reconciliation, which stands against the consequences of anti-Semitism, racism, war and violence. Since the beginning of the war, society has been showing solidarity with Ukraine. With this presentation we would like to turn the gaze from the past, to the events of the present.

The exhibition is the result of a cooperation with the Seminar for Art and Art Science at the TU Dortmund University, the Bohdan and Varvara Khanenko National Museum of Arts, Kyiv, the Ukraine Art Aid Center/Netzwerk Kulturgutschutz Ukraine and the Caspar David Friedrich Institute, University of Greifswald. The project is headed by Dr. Olena Balun, Prof. Dr. Kilian Heck, Yuliya Vaganova and Prof. Dr. Barbara Welzel, and we would like to express our sincere thanks to all of them.

More about the Ukraine Art Aid Center/Netzwerk Kulturgutschutz Ukraine can be found here.