This lecture explores how Ukraine’s artistic community has navigated the upheavals brought by the Russian invasion, and how Arsenal Gallery in Białystok, together with its director, Monika Szewczyk, has continued to support Ukrainian artists through steady cross-border collaboration. With Ukrainian curator Yulia Kostereva and Arsenal Gallery director Monika Szewczyk, the lecture will discuss how cross-border collaboration operates through both institutional structures and individual experience.
Arsenal Gallery has become a key institution supporting the development of Ukrainian
contemporary art. Located near the Belarusian border, Białystok has long been a meeting point for trade and cultural exchange among Poland, Belarus, and Ukraine, giving the gallery a unique sensitivity to regional histories and wartime contexts. Founded in 1965, Arsenal Gallery is not only Poland’s oldest contemporary art institution but also one of its most respected and influential museums, shaping artistic conversations across Central and Eastern Europe. Szewczyk’s long-term involvement with Ukrainian artists has helped many collaborative projects continue despite the instability of war.
The lecture draws on the gallery’s upcoming 2025 exhibition, Common Landscape / Greetings a Stranger, to show how artists from different places are linked by shared wartime experiences, and developing new emotional languages and cross-border narratives. Ultimately, the lecture highlights how Poland’s continued support is helping build a cultural space based on trust and cooperation, allowing both Ukrainian and Polish art communities to move forward together in a time of uncertainty.

Title: Between Collaboration and Renewal: How Polish-Ukrainian Cultural Ties Sustain Artistic Resilience
Speakers: Monika Szewczyk (Director, Arsenal Gallery, Bialystok, Poland) and Yulia Kostereva (Curator, Arsenal Gallery, Bialystok, Poland)
Date: 2025.12.18 (Thursday) 10:00-12:00
Venue: Resources Promotion Room (NTUE Library, 4th Floor)

CCSCA 國立臺北教育大學當代藝術評論與策展全英語碩士學位學程

National Taipei University of Education MA in Critical and Curatorial Studies of Contemporary Art

Tel: +886-2-27321104 ext.52165

Web | ccsca.ntue.edu.tw

Email | ccsca@mail.ntue.edu.tw

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National Taipei University of Education