In the splendour of fallen suns

Daria Koltsova is one of the remarkable figures of the contemporary Ukrainian scene in these difficult times for her people, subjected to the atrocities of war. Born in 1987 in Kharkiv, Ukraine, and a graduate of the Academy of Design and Art in the same city, majoring in art history and theory, she initially settled in Kyiv. With the outbreak of war, she took refuge first in Berlin and then in Oxford, Great Britain. The artist frequently returns to Odessa, her native country, to work there. 

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Her artistic work, which includes installations, performances and videos, brings together political and personal dimensions. Her works succeed in making current geo-political or social situations sensitive and tangible, by associating their intimate perceptions and their repercussions on individuals. Moving away from an attempt at realistic representation, she gives form to new images, sometimes derived from historical or iconographic research. Since the annexation of Crimea by Russia and the war in Donbass in 2014, she has been working on the effects of war and questioning the possibilities of protections and resiliencies. 

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Memory, displacement, silenced bodies, and the ambiguous relationship of protection-fragility are some of the topics addressed by Koltsova. The artist’s memories stretch as an unlimited ray of light, diluting constantly in her head yet wanting to manifest as visibly as possible. On the verge of destruction caused by the war, the artist creates and thus reveals multiple possibilities of resilience and hope.  

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Recent exhibitions include: The Road to Poetry in Wartime (2023), ISHO D, Art Encounters, Timișoara (RO); HERE AND NOW: Modernism in Ukraine: 1900-1930s & Daria Koltsova (2023), Ludwig Museum, Cologne (DE); Theory of Protection (2022), Suprainfinit Gallery, Bucharest (RO); Albertina Museum, Vienna (AT); intervention (2022), Copenhagen Democracy Summit, Royal Danish Palace (DK); LULLABY (2022), World Economics Forum, Davos (CH); THEORY OF PROTECTION (2022) Lescer art centre, Zalesie Gorne (PL) & Suprainfinit Gallery, Bucharest (RO); ART WORK (2017), National museum Mystetskyi Arsenal, Kyiv (UA).

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