From October 22 to 26, the Art Basel fair will be held at the Grand Palais in Paris, where Ukraine will participate for the first time in history. The Kyiv-based Voloshyn Gallery and the French Galerie Poggi present a solo exhibition by artist Nikita Kadan. The project explores the legacy of modernism against the backdrop of growing global violence and destruction, reflecting on possible scenarios for the future of Ukraine.
Nikita Kadan's exhibition at Art Basel 2025
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The key work of the exhibition is “Shchekavitsa” – a charcoal drawing. Recall that in 2022, a joke about holding an orgy on Shchekavitsa in the event of a nuclear attack spread on Ukrainian social networks. Over time, this joke turned into a popular meme. Nikita Kadan's monumental work depicts an imaginary scenario of a realized “orgy on Shchekavitsa.”
Charcoal drawing “Shchekavitsa”, 2025. Size: 300 x 385 cm
“Shchekavytsa is based on a well-known plot from the first year of the full-scale war about planning an orgy on Shchekavytsa Mountain in Kyiv in the event of a Russian nuclear strike,” the artist says in a comment to vogue.ua. “The detailed planning of the orgy in a group on the Telegram network, numerous media publications, and thousands of memes turned an imaginary event into an “event of the imagination,” a great act of collective creativity. Catastrophic scenarios only make the experience of life here-and-now more intense. But new and new threatening news push the previous ones into the past: either into oblivion or into history.”
Sculpture “Gazelka II”, 2015 – 2025. Size: 185 x 45 x 85 cm
Also on display at the Ukrainian Art Basel stand are works by Nikita Kadan that document the war. These are flag-shaped sculptures, “Gazelka” and “Gazelka II” (2015), created from the wreckage of a shot-up GAZ truck found near Severodonetsk in the east of the country. Ten years later, in the fourth year of the full-scale invasion, a metal kettle, also brought from eastern Ukraine and pierced by shrapnel, was added to the second version.
The exhibition can be seen at the stand of Voloshyn Gallery and Galerie Poggi within the framework of the Art Basel 2025 fair.