Exhibition "No Man Is an Island. Three Seas"

On May 10 at 17:00, we’re opening the exhibition “No One is an Island. Three Seas.”

This multimedia project explores seas and shorelines, navigating the boundary between artistic and documentary. “No One is an Island” began in autumn 2021 in the Kherson region with a residency organized by ArtPole Agency. The idea behind the project was to invite artists to get as close to Crimea — both physically and in their work — as possible, to approach a place that feels near yet remains inaccessible.

Multimedia artist Olia Mikhayliuk and sound artist SK.EIN worked in the village of Khorly, located on the Hirky Kut peninsula just 30 km from Crimea. There, they created a surreal version of the Crimean peninsula — built from waves, wind, trembling steppe grass, red clay, and tumbleweed. At the same time, tiles crafted by Crimean Tatar ceramicist Rustem Skibin were installed in the paving stones at the Kalanchak checkpoint.

In February 2022, Hirky Kut also became unreachable — it was occupied, just like Mariupol, the hometown of Suren Voskanyan. All he managed to take with him was his duduk. Olia Mikhayliuk recorded an interview with the musician about his experience in Mariupol during February–March 2022. Later, together with Polish sound artist Tomasz Sikora, they created the second chapter of “No One is an Island,” dedicated to Mariupol.

The project was joined by Polish label Coastline Northern Cuts — musicians from the label, along with Olia Mikhayliuk, are now working on the final chapter of “No One is an Island”, focused on three seas: the Azov, the Black, and the Baltic. Materials were recorded in both Ukraine and Poland, with further development taking place at LCCA, the Latvian Centre for Contemporary Art in Riga. New fragments of this audiovisual work will be presented for the first time in a work-in-progress format.

Photo/video: Olia Mikhayliuk

Audio: Coastline Northern Cuts, Suren Voskanyan, Tomasz Sikora

Ceramics: Rustem Skibin

Curator: Myroslava Haniushkina, ArtPole Agency

Free entry. Second floor, exhibition space. The exhibition will run through June 14.