Exhibitions, theater, music and leisure. Jam Factory Art Center opens in Lviv on November 18. After 8 years of revitalization, the largest modern art center in Lviv will open within the walls of the old factory.
On November 18, from 15:00 to 22:00, everyone is invited to the opening events. The program will include welcoming remarks, curatorial tours of the historical exhibition and the art exhibition “Our Years, Our Words, Our Losses, Our Searches, Our Us”. The evening’s musical program: a concert by Marjana Sadovska and Christian Tome with the new program “Learn to Light”, a collaboration with Safie Lantern-Kyza, a performance by Grisly Faye. Free entrance!
“The opening of the art center will be a landmark event not only for the artistic community and residents of our city, but also for the wider Ukrainian and international context. In the conditions of the war, we completed the processes of complex revitalization, supplemented the team and prepared an important exhibition and an extensive public program. Despite the war and numerous obstacles, we are reaching this long-awaited moment and together we are writing a new history of Ukrainian art,” says Bozhena Pelenska, program executive director.
Jam Factory Art Center organizes exhibitions, theater, music, educational and community projects and invites to dialogue, enrichment of experience and knowledge. The space consists of an ancient restored complex, which houses a large exhibition hall, a historical exhibition, a shop, a Jam Bar and a terrace. The complex also includes new spaces, where a modern black cube was built, which serves as a rehearsal hall, an auditorium, a Jam Cafe, a shelter and an office. There is a public area for walking and relaxing around. Entrance to the territory of the complex is free, with the exception of certain events and exhibitions.
“My urge to continue my first initiative, the Center for Urban History, was strengthened after I felt the potential of Ukraine and its people. Just like science, art is an important means of deep reflection for society, especially in times of war,” comments founder Harald Binder.
The conceptual aim of the revitalization was to create a space for critical reflection through culture. The structural composition of the complex, consisting of six separate spaces, reflects these ambitions. Grouped around an open courtyard and extended avenue, the Jam Factory Art Center operates as a continuous, adaptive space for various art forms.
The first exhibition
“Our years, our words, our losses, our searches, our us” is the name of the first exhibition that will open the gates of the art center. The curators are Kateryna Yakovlenko, Natalia Matsenko, Boris Filonenko. The exhibition presents the works of Ukrainian artists of 2022-2023 and from a longer chronology — from the 19th century to today. The exhibition is built on the principle of short stories and unites works at two distances — between the present and the past and between personal experiences and experiences of wartime.
“We are finalizing the itineraries and coming together for a few months to talk about the personal and the shared, memory and history, hoping that the narratives will no longer be interrupted,” the curatorial group.
The exhibition will last until March 2024 and will be supplemented with a program of discussions, meetings, and curatorial tours.