The Venice Biennale is an international cultural exhibition hosted annually in Venice, Italy, by the Biennale Foundation. It focuses on contemporary art, and includes events for art, contemporary dance, architecture, cinema, and theatre. Two main components of the festival are known as the Art Biennale and the Architecture Biennale, which are held in alternating years. The others – Biennale Musica, Biennale Teatro, Venice Film Festival, and Venice Dance Biennale – are held annually. The main exhibition held in Castello alternates between art and architecture, and there are around 30 permanent pavilions built by different countries.
In the art world, a Biennale, Italian for "biennial" or "every other year", is a large-scale international contemporary art exhibition. The term was popularised by the Venice Biennale, which was first held in 1895, but the concept of such a large scale, and intentionally international event goes back to at least the 1851 Great Exhibition in London.
The Ukrainian Orthodox Church – Kyiv Patriarchate was an Orthodox church in Ukraine, in existence from 1992 to 2018. Its patriarchal cathedral was St Volodymyr's Cathedral in Kyiv.
National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy, colloquially known as Mohylianka, is a highly ranked national research university located in a historic section of Kyiv, Ukraine. The university is bilingual in Ukrainian and English and is one of Ukraine's few universities with internationally recognized diplomas. NaUKMA takes part in numerous international university collaborations, such as the European University Association. With around 4000 students, NaUKMA is one of the smallest universities in Ukraine.
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people in Ukraine face legal and social challenges not experienced by non-LGBT individuals; historically, the prevailing social and political attitudes have been intolerant of LGBT people, and strong evidence suggests this attitude remains in parts of the wider society. Since the fall of the Soviet Union and Ukraine's independence in 1991, the Ukrainian LGBT community has gradually become more visible and more organized politically, organizing several LGBT events in Kyiv, Odesa, Kharkiv, and Kryvyi Rih.
Human rights in Ukraine concern the fundamental rights of every person in Ukraine. Between 2017 and 2022, Freedom House has given Ukraine ratings from 60 to 62 on its 100-point scale, and a "partly free" overall rating. Ratings on electoral processes have generally been good, but there are problems with corruption and due process. Its rating later declined in 2023 due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine which led to the enactment of martial law in Ukraine as well as a labor code that removed many legal protection for employees and small and medium-sized companies as well as a law that that increased the government's power to regulate media companies and journalism. Since the beginning of the invasion Russia has engaged in various war crimes against Ukrainian civilians and the invasion has had a major humanitarian impact on Ukraine and its citizens.
PinchukArtCentre is a private contemporary art centre, located in Kyiv with a collection of works by Ukrainian and international artists. The museum was opened on 16 September 2006 by the steel billionaire Victor Pinchuk.
Borys Grinchenko Kyiv Metropolitan University is a higher education institution. The university was established by Kyiv municipal council through reorganization of Kyiv regional Teachers Training Institute named after Borys Hrinchenko. The university is communal property.
Kyiv Music Fest, is an annual international music festival in Kyiv, Ukraine, that profiles modern Ukrainian classical music. The festival aims to promote Ukrainian musicians in the context of world art. It was founded by the Ministry of Culture of Ukraine and the National Union of Composers of Ukraine.
The Athens Biennale is an international cultural event held every two years at various locations in Athens, consisting of a large-scale exhibition and a diverse programme of side events, such as performances, workshops, lectures etc. It is one of the largest international art events of contemporary culture in Greece and it has been acknowledged as one of the most significant and innovative cultural initiatives in Europe by the European Cultural Foundation.
Christina Katrakis is an International coordinator and curator, writer, artist, Ambassador for the Foundation for United Nations SDG, in charge of the Humanitarian Aid Base FFUNSDG-HELP.UA in Vorokhta, Ukraine as an Ambassador for International Relations, Foundation for United Nations SDG. International Political Coordinator for The Delahunt Group & BGR, International Investment Coordinator for the Andesite Blue LLC British Investment Fund, an official international coordinator of the United Nations Agenda 2030 SDG Global initiative in partnership with the FFUN, and official international coordinator of UNESCO for the UNESCO Center of Bologna, producer in Hollywood MO’z art pictures and Visionairemedia, an American artist and writer. She is a US citizen.
Oleg Kharch /Kharchenko(born 1963 in Sumy) is a Ukrainian visual and sound artist working in the figurative, new Ukrainian naive (Quasi- naive), post-conceptual direction in the ultra contemporary art movement "#BULLBASKA".
The Angolan pavilion, representing the nation of Angola, has participated in the Venice Biennale since 2013. As one of the biennial international art exhibition's national pavilions, Angola mounts a show in a Venetian palazzo outside Venice's Giardini. The first Angolan pavilion, which featured the photography of Edson Chagas, became the first African national pavilion to receive the biennial's top prize, the Golden Lion for best national pavilion. Chagas displayed poster-sized photographs of resituated, abandoned objects and weathered architecture in the Angolan capital of Luanda. Reviewers praised the interplay between the photographed subject matter and the Italian Renaissance artwork that adorned the hosting palazzo's walls. The 2015 Biennale hosted a group show of five Angolan artists on themes of intergenerational dialogue.
Taus Makhacheva is a contemporary artist from Russia. She creates works that explore the restless connections between historical narratives and fictions of cultural authenticity. Often humorous, her art considers the resilience of images, objects and bodies emerging out of stories and personal experiences. Her methodology involves reworking of materials, landscapes and monuments, pushing against walls, opening up ceilings and proliferating institutional spaces with a cacophony of voices.
Cinthia Marcelle was born in Belo Horizonte, Brazil, in 1974. She is a Brazilian multimedia artist focusing in photography, video and installation work. She studied at the Universitadad Federal de Minas Gerais.
The Visual Culture Research Center (VCRC) is an independent cultural institution in Kyiv, founded in 2008 as a platform for interaction between academic, artistic, and activist communities. The VCRC is an independent public organization engaged in publishing and exhibition activities, scientific research, conducting public lectures, discussions, and conferences. From 2008 to 2012, it operated at the National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy.
Inna Romanivna Sovsun is a Ukrainian professor and politician. She served as Ukraine's deputy Minister of Education and Science of Ukraine from 2014 to 2016. On August 23, 2016, Sovsun resigned from her post following a controversy involving an order that would have reduced staffing levels of the Ministry of Education and Science by up to 10%. She served as vice-president of the Kyiv School of Economics from 2016 to 2018. She has also been a full professor of the department of political science National University "Kyiv-Mohyla Academy", as well as co-founder and former director of the think tank CEDOS.
Maria Mayerchyk is a Ukrainian feminist academic and the editor-in-chief of Feminist Critique: East European Journal of Feminist and Queer Studies.
Yurii Patsan is a Ukrainian artist. Knight of the "Order of Merit" of the III degree (2008), Honored Artist of Ukraine since (2014).
Zinaida Oleksandrivna Kubar is a Ukrainian artist and fashion designer who is renowned for her diverse philosophical works, which include films, installations, performances, paintings, and ornaments. In her works, she explores sensory experiences to analyze themes related to creativity and contemporary folk life in the context of the 21st century.
