An exhibition titled “WHERE HOME IS” by Zoe Sever, an Israeli artist of Ukrainian descent, has opened at the Taras Shevchenko National Museum in Kyiv with the support of the Embassy of the State of Israel in Ukraine.
“Zoya Sever’s exhibition shows Israel as we know and love it—vibrant, colorful, warm, and full of life. I encourage everyone to visit this exhibition and experience the atmosphere of Israel,” said Michael Brodsky, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the State of Israel to Ukraine, during the exhibition’s opening.
The artist brought to Ukraine a selection of works created in her signature style using the vibrant colors of oil and acrylic. Each painting conveys an impression or memory, an image of the city, its atmosphere, and its inner magic.
Sever’s works feature the rooftops of Jerusalem, black and white cats, the streets of the Old City, and the biblical white donkey as a symbol of eternity. The central theme of the exhibition is the home as a place of strength, memory, and return.
The organizers note that for Jews, even after two thousand years of diaspora, Israel remained a point of anchor—a home that needed to be reclaimed and restored. In the exhibition, this theme is combined with the experience of Ukraine, which today is also fighting for its own home, a peaceful sky, and the right to a future.
“This exhibition unites us—Ukrainians and Israelis, soldiers and artists, dreamers and pragmatists. Ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances. Those who stand on the front lines for the sake of their own home,” reads the project description.
Zoya Sever is an Israeli artist who was born in Lviv. At age 16, she moved to Israel with her parents; she currently lives and works in Tel Aviv. She graduated from the Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design in Jerusalem with a degree in architecture.
After the start of the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, Sever joined a volunteer group that provides protective gear to soldiers of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. She is also the founder of the “United People of the Planet” foundation, which runs the “Window to Peace” project: the artist, together with children, paints the walls of shelters.
Sever is also an instructor for the “Trauma Coalition” in Ukraine. Her works are held in museums and private collections in Israel, the United States, Canada, Spain, France, Germany, the United Kingdom, Switzerland, Australia, the Netherlands, Ukraine, and Kazakhstan.
From June 4 to 17, 2026, at the 74th “Ukrainian Collectible Art” auction, the Goldens Auction House will present a selection covering more than a century of the artistic process — from academic painting of the late 19th century to landmark names of contemporary Ukrainian art. The auction catalogue forms a holistic cross-section of the development of the Ukrainian art school, demonstrating the continuity of generations, the diversity of artistic environments and the evolution of plastic language.
The auction selection combines painting, graphics, sculpture and decorative art, emphasizing not only the artistic but also the collectible value of the works. A significant part of the works has an exhibition and publication history, while individual works are rare examples of early or little-known periods in the artists’ creative work.
The Transcarpathian art school at the current auction is represented by works by Adalbert Erdeli, Andriy Kotska and Ferenc Seman — artists who formed the unique coloristic tradition of Transcarpathian painting. The Lviv artistic environment is revealed through works by Roman and Margit Selsky, Henrietta Levytska, associated with modernist searches and the unofficial culture of the second half of the 20th century.
The selection also includes works by Mykola Hlushchenko, Oleksiy Shovkunenko, Tetiana Yablonska, Viktor Malynka, Tetiana Holembiievska — artists whose creative work shaped the intellectual and plastic landscape of Ukrainian art of the 1960s–1980s.
The selection is complemented by works of classics of the late 19th — first half of the 20th century, representing early modernism in Ukrainian art, as well as works by authors who shaped the Ukrainian artistic process in the context of European artistic trends. Among them are works by Joseph Krachkovsky, Oleksandr Haush, David Burliuk, Mané-Katz, Vasyl Khmeliuk.
An important body of the selection also consists of works by artists of “unofficial art”: Ihor Hryhoriev, Viktor Zaretsky, Henrietta Levytska, Anatoliy Lymariev, Margit Selska, as well as artists of the 1990s, the generation of transavant-garde and current art of independent Ukraine: Serafym Charkin, Petro Lebedynets, Volodymyr Makarenko, Eduard Prykhodko, Liudmyla Mieshkova, Vitaliy Buihashev, Oleh Holosiy, Vlada Ralko, Roman Minin.
Among the top lots of the auction are “By the Church” from the 1930s by Adalbert Erdeli, “Portrait” from the 1960s by Margit Selska, “Beach. Uyutne. Crimea” (1961) by Roman Selsky, “Evening in Palanga” (1973–1975) by Ihor Hryhoriev, “Flowers” (1974) by Mykola Hlushchenko, “Lights of the Highway” (1990) by Viktor Zaretsky, “The Beautiful Monkey Was Catching Little Sparrows, One of Them She Was Catching…” (1991) by Maria Prymachenko, “Waterfall” (1992) by Ferenc Seman, “Evening Light” (1993) by Vlada Ralko, “And the Night Was Bright” (2002) by Ivan Marchuk.
The pre-auction exhibition will run from June 4 to 17, 2026, in the space of the Goldens Auction House, as well as — for viewing — online on the website www.gs-art.com. For questions regarding registration and participation in the auction, please contact tel.: +38 050 462 95 32 or register on the website to be able to place online bids independently.
The final stage of bidding will begin with the sequential closing of lots — on June 17 (Wednesday) at 19:00 online on the website www.gs-art.com.
Schedule of the exhibition and online auction:
June 04–17, 2026
12:00–19:00
Open every day.
Admission to the exhibition is free.
Address: Kyiv, 4 Leonida Pervomaiskoho St.
GOLDENS Auction House
The Tchaikovsky National Music Academy of Ukraine has topped the nationwide ranking of artistic higher education institutions presented by the Institute of Sociological Research of the Kyiv National Economic University named after V. Hetman and the research company Active Group.
According to Oleksandr Poznyi, the coordinator of the project to create the rating, director of the Active Group research company, artistic higher education institutions are a very complex and important social institution that requires a specific methodology for studying.
“That’s why we combine the efforts of researchers, scholars and the best practices of the international community to improve our ranking of artistic higher education institutions,” he said at a press conference at Interfax-Ukraine on Tuesday.
Pozniy emphasized that the main mission of the rating is to evaluate artistic institutions, as the existing ratings are designed for classical universities and do not take into account the unique aspects of art education and the specifics of evaluating art institutions. This, in turn, affects the objectivity and significance of these rankings in the context of art education, resulting in the underrepresentation of artistic institutions in the rankings.
“This is an important step in creating a transparent and objective system for evaluating artistic educational institutions, which allows us to adequately assess their contribution to the cultural development of the country. The ranking is designed to reflect the uniqueness of each artistic institution. We have applied comprehensive criteria that include teaching, research, international activity and financial stability,” said Yulia Gorbova, Director of the Institute of Sociological Research at the Kyiv National Economic University named after V. Hetman.
According to her, the methodology of this year’s ranking was improved as part of the joint research work of Active Group, the Institute of Higher Education and the Institute of Sociological Research of the Kyiv National Economic University named after V. Hetman. The study searched, systematized, and analyzed international and local general and subject (industry) rankings, with a special focus on the rankings of art education institutions and/or educational programs.
Art higher education institutions were analyzed by 45 parameters grouped into six blocks: “Teaching and Learning”, “Science and Research”, “Impact of Higher Education Institutions on Society Development”, “Internationalization”, “Institutional Reputation”, and “Financial Sustainability”. The share of each group of indicators and the weight of each individual criterion was determined based on the analysis of international experience and adjusted based on the results of an expert survey of representatives of the field of art education.
The authors of the ranking also used multi-criteria approaches to evaluating the activities of higher education institutions based on the processing of data that can be obtained from open sources and whose validity can be verified.
The sources of data for the ranking of artistic HEIs were: EDEBO, NAQA, Rector’s Report, Report on Scientific Activities, Estimates, Financial Statements of HEIs, HEI Website, Scopus, Web of Science, OpenAlex, Ukrainian National H-index Ranking, Google Scholar, Transparent Ranking, QS, UniRank, services for measuring brand reputation on the Internet and social networks.
As a result, the all-Ukrainian ranking of art universities for the 2023-2024 academic year was as follows:
| Place in the ranking | Result | |
| Tchaikovsky National Music Academy of Ukraine | 1 | 68,6 |
| Kharkiv State Academy of Design and Arts | 2 | 47,7 |
| Kharkiv State Academy of Culture | 3 | 43,8 |
| Lviv National Academy of Arts | 4 | 43,5 |
| National Academy of Fine Arts and Architecture | 5 | 41,7 |
| Kharkiv National University of Arts named after I.P. Kotlyarevsky | 6 | 39,6 |
| Kyiv National University of Theater, Cinema and Television named after I.K. Karpenko-Kary | 7 | 38 |
| A.V. Nezhdanova Odesa National Music Academy | 8 | 32,2 |
| Mykola Lysenko Lviv National Music Academy | 9 | 32,1 |
| Mykhailo Boichuk Kyiv State Academy of Decorative and Applied Arts and Design | 10 | 27,2 |
| National Academy of Management Personnel of Culture and Arts | 11 | 27,1 |
| Transcarpathian Academy of Arts | 12 | 14,5 |
| Luhansk State Academy of Culture and Arts | 13 | 12,3 |
The researchers plan to continue this assessment of artistic institutions in order to track the dynamics of the development of Ukrainian art education institutions. The project team invites everyone to join the work on the development of the ranking, in particular, to improve the criteria for evaluating art institutions.
In March, the University of Łódź hosted an international scientific conference “Between the Reality of War and the Rhetoric of Peace”. The event was held under the patronage of the Voivode of Lodz and the Rector of the University of Lodz. This conference is a part of the Polish-Ukrainian art project aimed at popularizing the works of war artists, holding exhibitions of their works abroad, and publishing books about them as a way of their adaptation in peaceful life after the victory and overcoming the consequences of PTSD.
Aneta Pavlovska, Deputy Dean of the Faculty of Philosophy and History of the University of Lodz, Doctor of Science, Professor, who chaired the conference, emphasized the relevance of the project and spoke about the first such experience, the organization of 7 exhibitions of photographs by Captain Serhiy Belinsky, a press officer of the 28th separate mechanized brigade named after the Knights of the Winter Campaign, a famous musician and art photographer. Two catalogs of his works were published, scientific articles were written, and a monograph on Serhiy’s work in peacetime and wartime is currently being published at the Institute of Art History of the University of Lodz.
The following report was made by Yulia Ivashko, Doctor of Architecture, Professor at the Kyiv National University of Construction and Architecture, and press officer Serhiy Belinsky by phone from the Bakhmut direction.
The reports by Anastasia Urakina, a graduate student at the Kyiv National University of Construction and Architecture, and Agnieszka Gralinskey-Toborek, a doctoral student and professor at the University of Lodz, were directly related to the events of the war in Ukraine.
Anastasia Urakina presented a program of psychological rehabilitation and art therapy for people affected by the war, developed jointly with the Kyiv think tank “Experts Club“. The program primarily involves group work, which will be led by professional psychologists. Classes will be held at the “Experts Club“.
Anastasia Urakina’s theses on art therapy methods were a continuation of Ms. Agnieszka Gralinskay-Toborek’s discussion on which works of war survivors can be exhibited without harming the person, and which are only part of PTSD treatment.
It is worth noting that for the first time, Polish scholars had the opportunity to ask a Ukrainian artist at war questions live. Aneta Pavlovska asked how it is possible to remain an artist in the face of danger even in war. Serhiy answered that he has been in the army since 2021, he is used to it, his camera is always with him, and it is no less important for him than an information war with the enemy.
Yulia Ivashko showed a presentation of Serhii’s photographs and spoke about future plans to expand the circle of artists at war. The same point was emphasized by the Director of the Institute of Art History, Doctor of Science, Professor Piotr Gryglewski.
There were 18 presentations aimed at highlighting the work of military artists who experienced their own experiences, and the topic of war in art was also covered. Lukasz Sadowski, PhD, from the W. Strzemiński Academy of Arts in Lodz, highlighted the evolution of propaganda in Russian military painting.
Justyna Kobylarczyk and Dominika Kusznierz-Krupa, PhDs, professors at the T. Klczyuszko University of Technology in Krakow, who organized an exhibition Old-New Town at their university, showing Ukrainian cities before and during the war, said that such projects are needed.
Andriy Dmytrenko, PhD in Engineering, Associate Professor of National University “Yuri Kondratyuk Poltava Polytechnic”, highlighted the evolution of artistic messages during the war in Ukraine.
The conference ended with the presentation of the book “And the Light in the Darkness Shines” by Serhiy Belinsky and Yulia Ivashko about the war in Ukraine, published by the Krakow-based Impuls Publishing House.
ANASTASIA_URAKINA, ART, ART THERAPY, CLUB_OF_EXPERTS, CONFERENCE, KNUBA, LODZ_UNIVERSITY, PTSD, SERHIY_BELINSKY, YULIA_IVASHKO, АНЕТА_ПАВЛОВСЬКА
On February 23, the Ukrainian-Polish art project “War through the Prism of Art” was presented in Kiev at the press center of the Interfax-Ukraine news agency.
Art plays an important role in highlighting the horrors of the war and in overcoming its consequences, so the presentation of Ukrainian works in the European scientific and cultural space is very important, said Professor of Kyiv National University of Construction and Architecture, Honorary Restorer of Ukraine Yulia Ivashko.
“In March, a conference will be held at the University of Lodz where the role of the artist and art in covering the war in Ukraine and its post-war reconstruction will be discussed. In addition, exhibitions of works by Ukrainian photographer and defender Sergey Belinsky have already been held in the Czech Opava and Ostrava, and in the near future an exhibition will open in Polish Poznan,” Iwashko said at a press conference in the Interfax-Ukraine news agency on Thursday.
According to her, the tragedy of the war in Ukraine forced everyone to reconsider their system of values.
“Now we Ukrainians are changing the world, and in such projects it is very important to feel a sense of elbow of our European friends, so to speak,” she stressed.
The head of the press service of the 28th separate mechanized brigade of the AFU named after the Knights of the Winter Campaign Sergey Belinsky, who is the author of the works presented at the exhibition, thanked Polish colleagues for their support and stressed that the art project was started since the first days of the war and gradually became not only artistic, but also scientific.
“This is not only an exhibition of photographic works, but also a record of the devastation in the south of our country. In addition to the photo exhibition itself, we have already published two books with photos, descriptions and stories,” said S. Belinsky.
Head of the press service of the 28th separate mechanized brigade of the AFU named after the Knights of the Winter Campaign Sergey Bilinsky, who is the author of the works presented at the exhibition, thanked Polish colleagues for their support and stressed that the art project was started since the first days of the war and gradually became not only artistic, but also scientific.
“This is not only an exhibition of photographic works, but also a record of the devastation in the south of our country. In addition to the photo exhibition itself, we have already published two books with photos, descriptions and stories,” said S. Bilinsky.
According to Anastasia Urakina, an architect and young scholar, a graduate student at the Kyiv National University of Construction and Architecture, war and the risks associated with it can lead to various psychological traumas, such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, and others. That is why the art project “War through the prism of art” together with the Kyiv think tank “Experts Club” are conducting a course of psychological rehabilitation and art therapy for people of all walks of life – children, disabled people, the elderly and others.
“The groups will be led by professional psychologists and artists, and the classes will be held at the Kyiv-based think tank Experts Club. There will also be art therapy classes and exhibitions of works by Ukrainian artists,” emphasized Urakina.
ART, ART_THERAPY, BELINSKY, EXPERTS CLUB, KNUBA, UNIVERSITY OF LODZ, ІВАШКО, ПАВЛОВСЬКА, УРАКІНА
