In her performances, drawings, and videos, the multidisciplinary Ukrainian artist Alevtina Kakhidze critically examines socio-political changes unfolding in her own country, Ukraine. Having grown up in the Donetsk region of Ukraine, known for coal mining, she has experienced Ukraine’s abrupt and chaotic changes from the days of the USSR, its dissolution and to the imbalanced situation after, including the yet undeclared in 2014 war between Russia and Ukraine that transformed into a full-scale open invasion in 2022. In 2013, she actively participated in the Maidan protests. When Russia annexed Crimea in 2014, she decided to showcase her work “Method of Constructing a Political Truth” at Manifesta 10 in St. Petersburg despite the calls for a boycott of the event. Since then, Russia’s war against Ukraine has been the main focus of her work. She remained in Ukraine after the full-scale invasion in 2022 and now describes the everyday impact of war on people who want to live in peace. For her public lecture at the Jordan Center at NYU, she explores the sometimes contradicting themes such as consumer behaviour, ecology, feminism and life in war zones as she examines the historical development of Ukraine through her own artistic trajectory.
This event is organized in partnership with Razom for Ukraine.
This event will be hosted in person and virtually on Zoom. Register for the Zoom meeting. Non-NYU affiliates must RSVP for in-person campus access.
Alevtina Kakhidze (b. 1973) is a multidisciplinary artist working in the fields of performance, drawing, time-based media, curatorship, and collaborative art with a focus on consumerism, plant culture, feminism, and life in conflict zones. Raised in the Donetsk Region and now based outside Kyiv in the village of Muzychi, Kakhidze has become one of the most prominent artists working in Ukraine today. Her works have been included in the collections of the Tate Modern, the Museum of Contemporary Art Antwerp – M HKA, Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein, SCHUNCK Museum, Art Collection Telekom, the National Art Museum of Ukraine, and others. Among the events she has participated in are EuroFestival in Liverpool (2023), Manifesta 14 (2022), Manifesta 10 (2014), the 7th Berlin Biennale (2012), and more. She has also collaborated with Albertinum, Centre Pompidou, KW Institute for Contemporary Art, Ujazdowski Castle, Whitechapel Gallery and others. Kakhidze attended the National Academy of Fine Art and Architecture in Kiev (1999-2004) and the Jan van Eyck Academy in the Netherlands (2004-2006). She has been a United Nations Tolerance Envoy in Ukraine since 2018. She is the recipient of several awards, including “State of the ART(ist)” Honorary Mentions by Ars Electronica and the Austrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (2023), the Women in Arts Award – 2023, UN Women Ukraine, the Kazimir Malevich Artist Award in 2008, first prizewinner of the Competition for Young Curators and Artists, Kyiv, Center for Contemporary Art at NaUKMA in 2002.