In the Lviv creative space KIVSH at 120H Shevchenka Street, the first cycle of the art project “TSEKH” has opened. It is an experimental exhibition of contemporary art in which a more than 130-year-old industrial building has become an integral part of the creative process. The exhibition will run from 1 August to 1 November.
Over the course of three months, six Ukrainian artists — Oleksa Furdiiak, Serhii Yakunin, Oleh Kapustiak, Andrii Sahaidakovskyi, Volodymyr Semkiv and Andrii Bokotei — worked directly on the KIVSH site. They explored the architecture, materials and the “memory” of the space, allowing the place itself to suggest the logic of the future exhibition.
The starting point of the residency was one of the oldest buildings in the complex — a former Austrian workshop built more than 130 years ago. It now serves as the project’s main exhibition space. At the same time, the artists also used other parts of KIVSH, engaging with industrial buildings, open areas, found objects and traces of the past.
The curators emphasise that instead of a pre-defined theme or concept, the foundations of “TSEKH” were the space itself, trust in the artists and openness to the process. An important component was the collaboration between the residency participants, which resulted in eight sculptures and installations.
“At TSEKH, it all began with the process — a dialogue between the artists and the space, and with one another. The exhibition emerged as a result of this interaction. That is why TSEKH is not just an exhibition, but an experience of co-creating space and art” — Kateryna Kovaliuk
According to KIVSH CEO and project producer Kateryna Kovaliuk, “TSEKH” is conceived as an ongoing art cycle: each subsequent iteration will have new participants, a new process and a new exhibition, while freedom and co-creation will remain unchanged.
The project’s title is linked to the history of the site. At the end of the 19th century, Austrian military workshops operated here, and later the production workshops of the Lviv Forklift Plant. If industrial goods were once manufactured here, today these walls are home to artistic expression.
The “TSEKH” exhibition is open to visitors from Wednesday to Sunday. Admission is free, with a voluntary donation in support of the NGO “Centre of Creation”.
KIVSH is a creative and community hub in Lviv, developing on the grounds of a revitalised industrial complex of the former Lviv Forklift Plant. It brings together entrepreneurs, artists, educational initiatives and creative communities, with culture being one of the key directions in the development of the space.