From the Ukrainian University of Lviv to ADEMA Fine Arts: Creating in Times of War
>> During their stay, they have shared with the students how the armed conflict shapes their lives and creative work, and have held working sessions at La Célula, Christian Awe’s art space in Palma. >> Eight students and three faculty members from Lviv Polytechnic National University in Ukraine have participated in an artist residency in Mallorca, having won the Public Choice Award at the ADEMA University Art Biennial. What began as an artistic gathering of universities from around the world during ADEMA’s 2024 University Art Biennial – Art Week has evolved into a new experience of creation, community, and exchange in Mallorca. Eight students and three faculty members from Lviv Polytechnic National University in Ukraine have participated in an artist residency linked to ADEMA and the creative circle of German artist Christian Awe, following the Audience Award they won during the Biennial. As explained by the Fine Arts coordinators at ADEMA—Dr. Dan Norton and Dr. Mónica Galván—”the residency marks a new phase in a collaboration that began during that international gathering and confirms one of the Biennial’s primary objectives: forging connections capable of evolving into future academic, artistic, and professional experiences.” However, the residency has also provided insight into a far more complex reality: how an artistic identity is created, studied, and constructed in a country at war. Over the course of several days, the Ukrainian delegation has shared spaces for work, conversation, and creative activity with students and faculty from ADEMA’s Fine Arts degree program, in addition to participating in various sessions within the creative environment of artist Christian Awe in Palma. One of the highlights of the visit was an exhibition and discussion with second- and fourth-year Fine Arts students from ADEMA. During the session, the Ukrainian students and professors explained what it is like to pursue an artistic and academic career in a context shaped by armed conflict. Dr. Dan Norton noted that the session addressed various perspectives on how the war shapes daily life, studies, and artistic practice. “They spoke about the stress, uncertainty, and difficulties of everyday life, as well as how those circumstances ultimately influence creative processes,” he explained. War may appear directly in the works, but also in a much more silent manner. Memory, territory, identity, absence, displacement, and the changes experienced in daily life become part of the themes and concerns of a generation that developed its artistic training under exceptional circumstances. However, one of the messages to emerge from the gathering was precisely that contemporary Ukrainian art cannot be reduced solely to the war. Students and faculty continue to develop highly diverse research, projects, and lines of inquiry—also relating to contemporary culture, identity, new artistic languages, and experimentation. Conflict is an inevitable part of their context, yet it is not the sole narrative through which they construct their work. For ADEMA students, the conversation offered a chance to gain firsthand insight into a reality they usually encounter only through images reaching them from Ukraine via various audiovisual channels. On this occasion, it was the young artists themselves and their teachers who gave voice to what it means to continue their studies, create work, and envision a professional future amidst uncertainty. From the ADEMA classrooms to La Célula Ukrainian students and faculty have also participated in several work sessions at La Célula, Christian Awe’s creative space and artist residency in Palma. The relationship with the German artist is part of the connections fostered around the University Art Biennial, which was conceived precisely as a meeting point for the university, contemporary creative practice, and the professional sphere. Collaboration between the two spaces has enabled participants to combine academic activity with experience in a professional artistic environment, and to engage with other methodologies, discourses, and approaches to creation. Mallorca thus becomes more than just the setting for a residency; over the past few days, it has served as a space for production, exchange, and dialogue among artists and students from vastly different cultural backgrounds. For the eight Ukrainian students and three teachers, the residency has also offered the opportunity to temporarily pursue their artistic practice far from the conditions currently shaping their daily lives. Changing cities, workspaces, and academic environments introduces new points of reference and allows one to view one’s own work from a different perspective. Distance does not erase the reality being experienced in Ukraine, but it offers a different context from which to observe and engage with it. In the case of the Lviv delegation, that experience also makes it possible to explain how the conflict shapes their lives and their creative work, without turning the war into the only possible narrative surrounding the art they produce.
Two Fine Arts students from ADEMA are showcasing their work at ‘Persianes amb Art’ in Alicante.
Marina Albero and Nerea Garcías are participating in an initiative that transforms urban space through artistic creation. Marina Albero and Nerea Garcías, students of the Fine Arts degree program at the ADEMA University School, have participated in a new edition of ‘Persianes amb Art,’ an artistic initiative held in Els Poblets, Alicante.The gathering brought together various artists around a project involving artistic interventions on roller shutters, transforming everyday elements of the urban landscape into canvases for contemporary creation.The participation of Marina Albero and Nerea Garcías enabled the students to take the knowledge and processes developed during their Fine Arts training beyond the classroom, engaging with an artistic project directly linked to public space, the territory, and interaction with the community.‘Persianes amb Art’ proposes a different way of bringing artistic creation closer to society, integrating it into the streets and everyday architecture of Els Poblets. The decorated shutters thus become part of the urban landscape, creating an open and accessible artistic route. For ADEMA students, the experience has offered an opportunity to share a workspace with other creators, explore diverse artistic languages, and develop a work shaped by a real-world medium and context.Participation in projects of this nature reflects the ADEMA Fine Arts degree program’s commitment to bridging academic training with contemporary artistic practice, encouraging students to develop projects beyond the university setting by engaging with artists, institutions, cultural initiatives, and various regions.
Artist and researcher Vasyl Savchenko brings his international artistic experience to ADEMA Fine Arts students.
>>A faculty member from the Academy of Fine Arts in Gdańsk shared their creative processes, graphic research, and international professional career with fourth-year students as part of the “Artist’s Workshop” course. Ukrainian artist Vasyl Savchenko, a professor and researcher at the Academy of Fine Arts in Gdańsk (Poland), has shared his career path, creative processes, and professional experience with fourth-year Fine Arts students at ADEMA, as part of the “Artist’s Workshop” course. The session allowed students to gain direct insight into the practice of an artist with an extensive international career and to learn about both his working methodology and the key conceptual and technical lines that shape his artistic output. In the days leading up to the event, Savchenko also worked on her own art at the ADEMA facilities, fostering interaction with students and an exchange of ideas regarding creative processes. During the academic session, she focused in particular on the materials, supports, and techniques that define her distinctive graphic and pictorial language, while also discussing her experience in the international exhibition circuit and her teaching and research work at the Academy of Fine Arts in Gdańsk. Born in Lviv, Ukraine, in 1994, Savchenko has a background in painting and the graphic arts. His career encompasses over a hundred exhibitions, projects, artist residencies, and symposiums across Europe, Asia, and the United States. Furthermore, his work is held in public and private collections in countries such as the United States, China, Japan, Italy, Poland, Ukraine, and Türkiye. >> Drawing as a territory of research A central theme of the presentation was the artist’s conception of drawing as a space for artistic inquiry. Charcoal plays a fundamental role in her output, though her work transcends its conventional use as a graphic tool. Through processes involving resin-varnish fixing, natural pigments, and various surface treatments, Savchenko transforms the material into an element with qualities akin to painting. This experimentation allows him to explore the boundaries between drawing and painting and to delve into the relationships between material, gesture, and representation. His research extends equally to printmaking, where she combines traditional techniques—such as etching, mezzotint, drypoint, screen printing, and monotype—with contemporary tools and processes. This interplay between analog techniques and new technologies also forms one of the areas linked to her teaching and research activities in Gdańsk. >> Direct contact with professional practice Throughout the session, Savchenko demonstrated how the choice of materials, supports, and technical procedures can be integral to the conceptualization of a work, rather than being limited merely to its execution. The session thus offered students insight into an artistic practice situated at the intersection of creation, teaching, and research. The “Artist’s Workshop” course is designed as a space for immersion in contemporary creative processes through the participation of national and international artists. Direct contact with active professionals allows students to learn about real working methodologies, broaden their range of references, and compare their own artistic research and production processes. Vasyl Savchenko’s participation aligns with this educational approach, offering a perspective in which tradition and technology, drawing and painting, graphic work, and contemporary experimentation converge to forge a distinctive artistic language.