Becoming After Ruin

Vision of the project

Becoming After Ruin approached the topic of ruins, rebirth, and conservation from a multi-disciplinary perspective, highlighting the importance of themes such as re-emergence and becoming in the context of war through the arts, war-time damage to heritage and the environment, and rebuilding urban imaginaries as a method of resilience in Europe's peripheral cities.

The project centred around two exhibitions showcasing newly commissioned works by two Ukrainian artists, Daria Koltsova and Vitaly Yankovy, which took place at Suprainfinit Gallery in Bucharest. Daria Koltsova's exhibition was co-commissioned together with the main partner, Odessa National Fine Art Museum.

The purpose of the project was to engage the public in a dialogue on the role of socially and environmentally sensitive imagination in reconstruction processes and to increase the visibility of Ukrainian arts and culture locally in Bucharest. This was achieved by expanding the curatorial framework to include other disciplines such as museology, art history, film, and cultural theory—an approach that SUPRAINFINIT Gallery had developed over the past four years and extended further through collaboration with Odessa National Fine Art Museum.

The project fostered cross-disciplinary engagement, cultural dialogue, and awareness of Ukraine’s artistic and heritage struggles, contributing to the broader discourse on resilience and reconstruction.

Meet the Key Partner

Founded in 2015 by Suzana Vasilescu, SUPRAINFINIT Gallery highlights art practices with a focus on Eastern and Central Europe. Driven to support newly commissioned works and large-scale installations, SUPRAINFINIT is a key pillar in the cultural ecosystem of Bucharest and Eastern Europe. The gallery addresses a broad international public, representing emerging and mid-career artists from different cultural backgrounds and media. Parallel to the exhibitions, they place an important emphasis on public programming to expand the curatorial and artistic visions. Thus far, the gallery has successfully managed multiple programs and projects that received public funding, most notably an EEA Grant accessed through the RO-CULTURE program, 5 projects funded by the Administration of the National Cultural Fund in Romania between 2020 and 2023, and 1 by ARCUB. Additionally, the gallery collaborated with international institutes such as Goethe, the French Institute, the Polish Institute.

Start Date: June 14, 2024
End Date: Dec. 10, 2024