Voloshyn Gallery is pleased to announce our participation in Frieze NY 2025, taking place from May 7 to 11, in New York. We warmly invite you to visit our booth, where we will be showcasing a selection of works by Nikita Kadan.
Exhibition Details:
VIP Preview Date: Wednesday Preview, May 7 (invitation only): 11am – 7pm
Thursday Preview Date: May 8: (Members and invitation only preview 11am – 1pm
Fair Hours:
Thursday, May 8: 1pm – 7pm
Friday, May 9: 11am – 7pm
Saturday, May 10: 11am – 7pm
Sunday, May 11: 11am – 5pm
The Shed, New York, NY, Booth F09
At Frieze NY, Voloshyn Gallery presents Kyiv Siren, a solo exhibition by Ukrainian artist Nikita Kadan. A significant milestone and achievement in the Ukrainian art world, this is the first time in history that a gallery from Ukraine is participating in Frieze.
Kyiv Siren explores themes of memory, history, and violence within the context of Ukraine's ongoing traumas. Nikita Kadan reflects on colonial violence and its impact on local communities. His charcoal drawings and installations engage in a dialogue, addressing the war’s effect on landscapes and a nation’s collective memory. Referencing Russian missile strikes, the works intertwine past and present, exposing the cyclical nature of violence through subtle yet powerful visual motifs.
The image of the Siren, a creature from Greek and Roman mythology, appears in frescos, stone sculptures as well as funerary monuments. It serves as a constant reminder of loss, as the Ukrainian Black Sea coast, once home to ancient Greek colonies (VII–V BC), is now largely occupied by Russia, along with Southern Ukrainian cities where many museums used to house significant Greek artifacts. The looting and destruction of these museums have become a stark symbol of cultural erasure and appropriation.
In the most popular interpretation of the siren myth, she has become a treacherous sea creature who uses her irresistible voice to lure ships to wrecking and sailors to their demise. When the Siren’s song ends, death follows. Similarly to the ancient myths, modern-day air raid sirens tend to prophecise death and destruction. In Nikita Kadan’s drawings, the repeated black ellipses positioned next to the figures of the ancient sirens are evocative of speech balloons that visualize their murderous singing. At the same time, it is possible to see a silhouette of a ray in them and interpret it as a symbol of a ripening future, of a potential that is preparing to be embodied.
On Sovereignty consists of sharp and shiny metal rays which violently pierce the surrounding space. This ray symbolically stands for the destructive human desire, and the belief in a supposedly “given right” of imperialist countries to colonize, extract and consume.
Since 2014-2015, Nikita Kadan has been working with materials leftover after destruction, in particular, scraps of metal from roofs penetrated by shrapnel. Progressive Sculpture of the 20th Century consists of a paradoxical combination of the quasi-modernist pedestal and a Soviet book on the history of sculpture. In this book, the struggle between "realistic" and "modernist" (in Soviet terms, "formalist") sculpture is viewed as a struggle of ideologies, therefore the "flag" element made from a piece of roof damaged by an explosion refers to the unresolved problems of the 20th century that permeate the current war in Ukraine.
The exhibition invites the viewers to consider the lasting long-term effects that colonialism and war have on a nation’s future, nature, and every aspect of human and non-human life. How one can withstand repeated vicious attacks on their cultural identity and ultimately be able to preserve them, albeit, sometimes, in an incomplete form.
About the artist
Nikita Kadan (b. 1982 in Kyiv, Ukraine) works with painting, graphics, and installation, often collaborating interdisciplinary with architects, sociologists, and human rights activists. He is a member of the artist group R.E.P. (Revolutionary Experimental Space) and a founding member of Hudrada (Artistic Committee), a curatorial and activist collective.
Nikita Kadan has recently been featured in solo and group exhibitions, including Kaleidoscope of "(Hi)stories. Ukrainian Art 1912–2023" at Albertinum, (Dresden, Germany), "Artists in Time of War" at Castello di Rivoli (Turin, Italy), "Skin and Shell" at the Lewben Foundation in Vilnius (Lithuania), and "The Fire and the Ashes" at the MuseumSztuki in 2023. In 2021, the Pinchuk Art Centre in Kyiv (Ukraine) devoted a solo exhibition to him, following the initiative of MUMOK (Vienna, AT), which held his first institutional and international solo exhibition in 2019. The artist received the Pinchuk Art Centre Prize in 2011 and the the Special Prize of the Future Generation Art Prize in 2014. He also participated in the Ukrainian Pavilion at the Venice Biennale in 2015 and the parallel program of the 59th and 60th International Art Exhibition at the Venice Biennale in 2022. His major solo exhibition Siren Sickle Satellite is currently on view at the National Art Museum of Ukraine.
Nikita Kadan’s works are included in public collections, such as Centre Pompidou in Paris, Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary (TBA21) in Madrid, KADIST in Paris, Pinakothek der Moderne in Munich, M HKA – Museum of Contemporary Art Antwerp, mumok (Museum Moderner Kunst Stiftung Ludwig Vienna), National Art Museum of Ukraine in Kyiv, Arsenal Gallery in Białystok, Military History Museum in Dresden, The Art Collection Telekom in Belgium, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, FRAC Bretagne, Centro per l'arte contemporanea Luigi Pecci in Prato, and ICA Miami in Miami.
About Frieze NY
Frieze New York is a leading international art fair that launched in 2012. It brings together the world’s leading galleries to showcase ambitious solo, group and themed presentations by pioneering artists and offers the opportunity to not only discover up-and-coming talent but also engage with some of art history’s most important figures.
About Voloshyn Gallery
In 2016, Max and Julia Voloshyn established Voloshyn Gallery in the heart of Kyiv, Ukraine. Situated in a historic 1913 building, Voloshyn Gallery's space provides an unconventional setting for contemporary art. It exhibits a broad range of works in a variety of media, representing both emerging and established artists. Voloshyn Gallery hosts solo and group exhibitions, works with accomplished curators and museums, and takes part in leading contemporary art fairs.
In 2022, Voloshyn Gallery made the difficult decision to close temporarily due to the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. In 2023 the gallery reopened its doors in Kyiv, Ukraine and also expanded with a space in Miami, Florida.
