Touring exhibition visits Ukraine

Modernism in Ukraine - Modern Roots and Heritage of Kharkiv and Lviv

The Special Focus of the Modernism 2022 Triennial and its opening event was dedicated to the roots and heritage of Modernism in Ukraine. In view of the ongoing war and the special significance of the architectural heritage, the exhibition and its themes were continued after 2022. A sixth part of the exhibition was realized in 2024. Thanks to appropriate funding, there are now plans to take the individual parts of the exhibition on tour. The first stop will be Chemnitz, the European Capital of Culture 2025, where three parts of the exhibition will be on display from November 18, 2024 to January 19, 2025. In May and June 2025, the complete six parts of the exhibition with almost 300 panels will be shown in the Derzhprom complex in Kharkiv.

Modernism in Ukraine

Modern roots and heritage from Lviv to Kharkiv

The exhibition series was the Opening to a transnational cooperation that is to be further expanded as part of the initiative for a "European Triennial of Modernism (ETOM)" with changing partners and within the "Strategic Triangle for Modernism" founded together with DOCOMOMO International and ICOMOS. It is available as a traveling exhibition that can be shown in its entirety or in parts, depending on the occasion and space. Here is an overview of selected stations:

May 1 to the end of June 2025:

Complete exhibition sections 1-6 as guests at Derzhprom in Kharkiv, Ukraine

The exhibition series Modernism in Ukraine - Modern Roots and Heritage of Kharkiv and Lviv, which will be developed in six parts from 2022, will be shown in Ukraine from May 1, funded by the Federal Foreign Office and other partners. The exhibition venue is the iconic Derzhprom complex in Kharkiv, a gigantic constructivist building from the late 1920s, which was already considered a potential UNESCO World Heritage Site by experts, but was recently hit by Russian bombs.

The Berlin exhibition series, shown in its entirety in cooperation with the local Yermilov Centre, consists of 283 panels that show, explain and contextualize outstanding Modernism buildings in Ukraine. The exhibition shows that the building culture of Modernism is an expression of a common European heritage. In view of the destruction and anti-modernist efforts, these values and their architectural witnesses need to be saved, communicated and ways of suitable restoration explored together.

According to current plans, the exhibition will open on May 6 at the Kharkiv Media Hub Gallery at Soboda Square 5 and will be combined with an accompanying program. However, this information is still subject to change. Whether other venues in Ukraine will be able to follow is also still open at present.

Press releases

Press information in German | Show Press Info in English

We would like to thank the following partners and sponsors:

Social media visual no. 1:
1920s (Photo: public domain)

Social media visual no. 2:
Derzhprom 2017 (Photo: Ben Buschfeld)

Social Media Visual No. 3:
Situation 2022 (Photo: Stanislav Ostrous)

November 18, 2024 to January 18, 2025:

Exhibition parts 3/4/6 of "Modernism in Ukraine" as guests in Chemnitz

Key visual of poster and social media (Photo: Stanislay Ostrous, 2022)

Three chapters of the six-part exhibition series on architectural modernism in Ukraine are now on display at the Wirkbau in Chemnitz, the European Capital of Culture 2025. The exemplary exhibition parts 3, 4 and 6, each with around two dozen exhibition panels, show

the work of architects of Jewish origin in Lviv,
the imposing ensemble of Svoboda Square with the Derzhprom building in Kharkiv and
a selection of the designs for the Ukrainian State Theater created in 1930 as part of an international competition.

Venue: Wirkbau, Haus A, Lothringer Str. 11, 09111 Chemnitz
Opening times: 18.11.-14.12.2024 + 16.-18.12.2025, Thu-Sat, 2-6 pm,
Finissage with curators/author guided tour: January 18, 2025, 2-6 pm
Special opening: Sun January 19, 2025, 2-6 pm

Show press release on 18.1.2025

Exhibition at Wirkbau, Chemnitz (Photo: Peter Winter, zukunftsgeraeusche GbR)

All three thematic sections underline the importance of Ukraine in the development of modern architecture and raise awareness of the common European heritage of this turbulent era and the devastation of the war in Ukraine.

The exhibition series, which was funded by the federal government, was created in cooperation with Ukrainian and Polish academics. It was developed in 2022 as part of the "Triennial der Modernism" festival and shown for the first time in Berlin. The current installation in Chemnitz is supported by the Federal Foreign Office, Kul'tura e.V. and the Ukrainian Institute in Germany. After Chemnitz, the exhibition will travel on to Kharkiv.

Special programs will take place on 6 December 2024 and 18 January 2025, during which the Ukrainian scientist Svitlana Smolenska will guide visitors through the exhibition sections she has developed and the curators of the project will also be represented.

Lecture / exhibition tour: 6.12.2024, 4-6 pm
- Olga Pischl, Steglitz-Zehlendorf twinning association : Greeting and outlook
- Ben Buschfeld, buschfeld.com:
  Introduction about the exhibition and its context (in German and/or English)
- Prof. Dr. Svitlana Smolenska:
  Guided author's tour to chapters 4 + 6 (in English and/or Ukrainian)
Finissage / exhibition tour: Sat, 18.1.2025, 2-7 pm
- Curators tour (in German and/or English):
  Robert K. Huber (and/or Ben Buschfeld)

Further documents and press download

The complete exhibition series

Modern Roots and Heritage of Kharkiv and Lviv

The organizers are looking forward to cooperations. To inquire about taking over an exhibition, please send us an e-mail.

The following exhibition sections exist

Part #1 (Duration 2.10.2022 - 21.10.2022)
Sat, 1.10., 19:45: Vernissage Photo Exhibition
Lviv Modernism: Let buildings speak.
Visual story of Lviv modern housing architecture
Partner*in: Lviv Centre for Urban History (LCUH); Author*in / Photographer*in: Myroslava Liakhovych Myroslava Liakhovych (associated researcher at the Center for Urban History, Lviv / currently at ETH Zurich - Institute for History and Theory of Architecture); Date: Opening on 01 October, 19:30, at BHROX, as an evening program of the second day of the kick-off event of the Triennial of Modernism 2022

Part #2 (Duration 28.10. - 9.11.2022)
Thu, 27.10. , 19:30: Vernissage photo exhibition
City, Architecture, Modernism -
Public buildings of the interwar period in Lviv
Partner*in: International Cultural Centre (ICC), Krakow in cooperation with Museum of Architecture in Wrocław (MAW); Author*in / Photographer*in: Michal Wisniewski (ICC), Żanna Komar (MAW), Andrzej Szczerski (MAW), Pawel Mazur (Photography); Location: BHROX bauhaus reuse

Part #3 (Duration 14.11. - 24.11.2022)
Sun, 13.11., from 18:00: Opening panel exhibition
The Modernism in Lviv and the contribution of Jewish architects*.
Ferdynand Kassler - inventor of the Galician Modernism
Partner*in: Lviv Polytechnic National University Author*in / Photographer*in: Bohdan Cherkes in cooperation with Yulia Bohdanova and Igor Kopyliak; Place from 20:00: TU Architecture Building

Part #4 (running 11/14 - 11/24/2022)
Sun, 11/13, from 18:00 Opening panel exhibition
Svoboda (Freedom) Square Ensemble in Kharkiv [*]
Partner*in / Author*in: Svitlana Smolenska (associate researcher at the Kharkiv School of Architecture, Technical University of Berlin and the OWL Technical University, ICOMOS Ukraine); Location: BHROX bauhaus reuse

Part #5 (Duration: Mon, 11/28 - 12/16/2022, 12:00-20:00)
Ukrainian Socialist Postmodernism
Partner*in: Urban Forms Center (UFC), Kharkiv Author*in / Photographer*in: Ievgeniia Gubkina and Pavlo Dorogoy (photography); Location: BHROX bauhaus reuse

Part #6 (duration 16.4. to 12.5.2024, 12:00-20:00)
The International Competition for
Kharkiv Mass Musical Theater with 4,000 seats from 1930 [*]
Partner*in / Autor*in: Svitlana Smolenska (ICOMOS Ukraine, associated researcher at the Department of Construction, Architecture and Design of the Kherson State Agrarian and Economic University, the Technical University of Berlin and the OWL Technical University); Location: BHROX bauhaus reuse - exhibition opening combined with presentation of Docomomo Journal No. 70, workshop talk and discussion

Cooperation partners
of the traveling exhibitions

ICOMOS International
DOCOMOMO International
BMWSB - Federal Ministry of Housing,
Urban Development and Construction
Federal Foreign Office
Ukrainian Institute in Germany
Kultura e. V.
Town twinning association
Steglitz-Zehlendorf e. V.

partners in Ukraine:

Yermilov Center
Karazin Kharkiv National University
Kharkiv Media Hub
Kharkiv Media Hub Gallery

Organization, curation, layout and production

BHROX bauhaus reuse / zukunftsgeraeusche GbR -Curation and coordination: Robert K. Huber, Production: Peter Winter
In coordination and co-curation with:
Ben Buschfeld, buschfeld.com -
graphic and interface design

Project framework

a project as part of the "European Triennial of Modernism (ETOM)" initiative

In content-related cooperation with:

Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf district
Centre for Urban History, Lviv (CUH)
International Cultural Centre Krakow with Museum of Architecture Wrocław
Lviv Polytechnic National University
Urban Forms Center Kharkiv
Kharkiv National University of Civil Engineering and Architecture
Svitlana Smolenska, affiliate researcher at Kharkiv School of Architecture, Technical University of Berlin and OWL University of Applied Sciences and Arts, back then funded by the Volkswagen Foundation
Society for the Study of the Lives and Work of German-speaking Jewish Architects
IfA - TU Berlin
Federal Institute for Culture and History of the Germans in Eastern Europe
House of Arts Brno