A Belarusian Curator Reflects on Planetary Crisis and (Post-)Cold War Imaginaries. We take a closer look at A Planet on A Pin, a new group exhibition at Voloshyn Gallery, Miami
A Belarusian Curator Reflects on Planetary Crisis and (Post-)Cold War Imaginaries. We take a closer look at A Planet on A Pin, a new group exhibition at Voloshyn Gallery, Miami
News | 30.07.2025
On July 25, Voloshyn Gallery in Miami opened the group exhibition “A Planet on A Pin”, curated by Aleksei Borisionok, a Belarusian researcher and curator. We spoke with Aleksei about how the show came together across continents — and what kind of response they’re expecting from the American audience.
On July 25, Voloshyn Gallery in Miami opened the group exhibition “A Planet on A Pin”, curated by Aleksei Borisionok, a Belarusian researcher and curator. We spoke with Aleksei about how the show came together across continents — and what kind of response they’re expecting from the American audience.
SHARE:
The exhibition title derives from the early film by prominent Soviet Ukrainian director Felix Sobolev. The film “Dawn of Destruction” (1965) refers to the sensibilities of the cold war with its nuclear anxiety, originating in the dread of the Second world war. Borisionok draws a line from this mid-century vision to today’s planetary instability — a world fragmented by internal conflicts, ecological crisis, and political disintegration.
The idea for the project emerged after Borisionok encountered Lesia Vasylchanko’s video work “Chronosphere”, presented during her solo show in Oslo. The film sparked a deep interest in the planetary scale of time, technopolitics, and the legacy of Soviet scientific imagination. A recommendation from fellow researcher Alexey Kuchansky led him to Sobolev’s 1965 film — and the conceptual foundation for the exhibition began to crystallize.
“We tried to gather works that reflect different forms of existence at the edge of collapse,” says Borisionok. The show includes Kateryna Lysovenko’s watercolor visions of webs and planetary perception, Veranika Hapchanka’s drawings and Nina Hartmann’s sculptural paintings exploring technopolitics and psychological warfare, SanaShahmuradova Tanska’s haunting canvases, and historical works by Fyodor Tetyanych.
The exhibition title derives from the early film by prominent Soviet Ukrainian director Felix Sobolev. The film “Dawn of Destruction” (1965) refers to the sensibilities of the cold war with its nuclear anxiety, originating in the dread of the Second world war. Borisionok draws a line from this mid-century vision to today’s planetary instability — a world fragmented by internal conflicts, ecological crisis, and political disintegration.
The idea for the project emerged after Borisionok encountered Lesia Vasylchanko’s video work “Chronosphere”, presented during her solo show in Oslo. The film sparked a deep interest in the planetary scale of time, technopolitics, and the legacy of Soviet scientific imagination. A recommendation from fellow researcher Alexey Kuchansky led him to Sobolev’s 1965 film — and the conceptual foundation for the exhibition began to crystallize.
“We tried to gather works that reflect different forms of existence at the edge of collapse,” says Borisionok. The show includes Kateryna Lysovenko’s watercolor visions of webs and planetary perception, Veranika Hapchanka’s drawings and Nina Hartmann’s sculptural paintings exploring technopolitics and psychological warfare, SanaShahmuradova Tanska’s haunting canvases, and historical works by Fyodor Tetyanych.
Lesia Vasylchenko, Eagle Aviary at the Kyiv Zoo (Architects: V. Melnikova, V. Mykhailov, T. Lytvyn), 2024, Mixed Media, 25.4 x 25.4 x 10.2 cm. 10 x 10 x 4 in.
According to the curator, Voloshyn Gallery was a natural home for the show:
“I’ve known Voloshyn Gallery for a while and I’m deeply grateful to Max and Yulia for the invitation. The gallery operates both in Kyiv and Miami, so this location made perfect sense,” says Borisionok. “This is not a classic "summer" exhibition, as is often the case in commercial galleries. It’s darker, more unsettling, because it deals with planetary anxieties, ecological and political crisis.”
Veronika Hapchenko, automat, 2025, watercolor on paper, 51x36cm, , 20 1/8 x 14 1/8 in.
At the same time, Aleksei Borisionok says that he hopes for interest from the American audience. And for many artists, this is their debut in the United States — even for Nina Hartman, who is from Miami but lives in New York, this is the first exhibition in her city.
“An exhibition on another continent is a very interesting and valuable experience. I already know a little about the US context and understand some of its features. In Miami, for example, decorative, commercially oriented modern art dominates, and that is why the Voloshyn Gallery program looks very bold and politically clear here — without compromises, — the curator emphasizes. — Our exhibition is related to planetary themes, but it also directly reflects what is happening in our region. From drone warfare to mineral extraction — all this has global consequences”.
Aleksei Borisionok is a curator, writer, and organizer who currently lives and works in Vienna. He is a member of the artistic-research group Problem Collective and the Work Hard! Play Hard! working group. He writes about art and politics for various magazines, catalogs, and online platforms such as e-flux Journal, L’Internationale Online, Partisan, Springerin, and Paletten, among many others. He was a fellow at the Vera List Center in New York, and, together with Katalin Erdődi, he was co-curating the Matter of Art Biennale in Prague (2024).
Photo by Alexei Borisenko taken from the website of the Prague Biennale Matter of art. Photo by Carolina Frank
Images with works of artists from the press release Voloshyn Gallery
Aleksei Borisionok is a curator, writer, and organizer who currently lives and works in Vienna. He is a member of the artistic-research group Problem Collective and the Work Hard! Play Hard! working group. He writes about art and politics for various magazines, catalogs, and online platforms such as e-flux Journal, L’Internationale Online, Partisan, Springerin, and Paletten, among many others. He was a fellow at the Vera List Center in New York, and, together with Katalin Erdődi, he was co-curating the Matter of Art Biennale in Prague (2024).
Photo by Alexei Borisenko taken from the website of the Prague Biennale Matter of art. Photo by Carolina Frank
Images with works of artists from the press release Voloshyn Gallery
SHARE:
Чытаць таксама:
FOLLOW US
INSTAGRAM TELEGRAM TIKTOK FACEBOOK YOUTUBE
© Chrysalis Mag, 2018-2025
Reprinting of materials or fragments of materials
is allowed only with the written permission