From 28 November 2025 to 1 March 2026, the National Art Museum of Ukraine will host the exhibition “Different Places” — a large-scale Polish-Ukrainian project reflecting on the experience of living and creating under conditions of war.
The exhibition’s title refers to the composition Different Trains by American composer Steve Reich, created as an artistic response to the tragedy of the Holocaust. In it, Reich contrasts his own childhood train journeys in 1939–1942 between New York and Los Angeles with the “journeys” of his Jewish peers in Europe, who were deported by rail to their deaths. A similar contrast of experiences in tragic circumstances forms the central theme of the exhibition.
The exhibition features works by Ukrainian and Polish artists created during the full-scale invasion. Curators emphasise both the fragility and resilience of artistic practice in wartime: despite danger, disruption, and loss, artists maintain sensitivity and the ability to respond to traumatic experiences in diverse forms and contexts.
Participating artists include Yevhen Arlov, SVITER artgroup (Max Robotov, Lera Polyanskova), Ivan Svitlychnyy, Zhanna Kadyrova, Violetta Oliynyk, Dmytro Kupriyan, Oleksandr Len, Pavlo Kovach, Denys Pankratov, Davy Chychkan, Sofiya Pomohaybo, Semen Khramtsov, Katarzyna Kozyra, Wilhelm Sasnal, Mirosław Bałka, Monika Sosnowska, Karol Radziszewski, Barbara Gryka, Aleksandra Liput, Aneta Grzesikowska, and Branas Przemak, Jacek Malinowski.
The first part of the project ran from 27 June to 10 August 2025, focusing on Polish art. It included works by six authors of different generations, created before the war but reinterpreted in light of the new reality, showing how historical and social events reshape the meaning of artistic works. The exhibition also featured the project The Sky is Open and the video installation One Minute.
The curators are Oksana Barshynova (Ukraine) and Waldemar Tatarchuk (Poland), with the public programme curated by Halyna Hleba.
The project is organised by the Polish Institute in Kyiv, the National Art Museum of Ukraine, the Labirynt Gallery in Lublin, and the Adam Mickiewicz Institute.