Program on the occasion of the 4th anniversary of the invasion of Ukraine
This month marks the fourth anniversary of the start of the full-scale war in Ukraine. To mark the occasion, together with colleagues from the Lviv National Academy of Arts, we have prepared a program of lectures, workshops, and discussions to which we would like to invite you.
We invite you to a lecture on art therapy for veterans developed by the Lviv National Academy of Arts, or to a workshop on weaving camouflage nets that will later be sent to Ukraine.
On 1 March, the exhibition in our Medium Gallery – Weapons. Country. Home. – also comes to an end, featuring graduates of the Lviv National Academy of Arts. On this occasion, a finissage with a performance and discussion with the exhibiting artists will take place on Thursday, 26 February 2026, in the early evening.
The programme at AFAD is intended not only for the academic community but also for the general public, unless stated otherwise.
Programme
Tetiana Bernatska: Academy of Arts – for Veterans
- Lecture
- Tuesday, 24 February 2026 at 15:00
- Venue: Cafeteria, Drotárska cesta 44
- Open to the public
The lecture will introduce experiences from organising the Veterans’ Academy – a social and educational project run by the Lviv National Academy of Arts. Its main aim is to provide art-therapeutic support to war veterans and people undergoing rehabilitation. The project coordinator, Tetiana Bernatska, will present the main goals and messages of their educational and therapeutic efforts as one of the important missions of contemporary art education in Ukraine.
Weaving Camouflage Nets
- Workshop
- 24–26 February 2026
- Led by: Sofia Kozlova
- Venue: Department of Textile Design, room D 354, Drotárska cesta 44
- Open to the public
Workshop participants – students, teaching staff, and members of the public – will learn about the textile technology used in the production of camouflage nets for the defence of Ukraine. They will have the opportunity to try weaving the nets under the guidance of instructor Sofia Kozlova from the Lviv National Academy of Arts. After the workshop, the completed net will be handed over by Fr. Ihor Marusyn of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic community of the Bratislava Eparchy to the Department of Military Chaplaincy of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, and subsequently sent to the front.
For four years, Sofia has been involved in the Centre for the Production of Camouflage Nets. Since the beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion, she and the student committee have organised a Volunteer Centre at the dormitory of the Lviv National Academy of Arts. Since then, the centre has produced more than 23,000 square metres of camouflage for various sections of the front line. During their activities, volunteers have camouflaged vehicles, robotic ground units, trenches, bunkers, and even a 17-metre antenna.
As part of the workshop, it will also be possible to learn more about the phenomenon of weaving camouflage nets as one of the significant civic initiatives supporting the Ukrainian army.
Lithographic Printing
- Workshop
- 23–27 February 2026
- Led by: Roksolana Tabaka
- Venue: Department of Photography and New Media, studio 324, 3rd floor, Drotárska cesta 44
- For AFAD students
The workshop will introduce students to the lithographic printing process, its chemical and visual properties, the unpredictability of results, and the role of artistic control within the printing process. The workshop presents lithography not only as a technological method but also as an artistic tool for reflecting on the image and the materiality of photography while exploring themes of memory, time, and corporeality.
Bohdana Hrynda: Teaching Contemporary Art in Uncertain Times: From Conceptual Foundations to Practice-Based Education
- Lecture
- Thursday, 26 February 2026 at 14:00
- Medium Gallery
- Within the lecture series Interpretative Frameworks of Contemporary Art II
The lecture will present the educational programme and fundamental pedagogical principles of the Department of Contemporary Art Practices at the Lviv National Academy of Arts. Bohdana Hrynda, a lecturer at the department, will guide us from the initial visions of the programme’s founders through the challenges they gradually faced to its current dynamic form, shaped in response to artistic, social, and institutional conditions during the time of full-scale war. She will focus in particular on the institutional and cultural dimensions of the department’s programme, both within the Ukrainian system of art education and in its overlaps with the international context.
Finissage and Discussion with the Exhibiting Artists (Sofia Kozlova, Anastasia Trykoz, Iryna Priakhina)
- Exhibition: Weapons. Country. Home.
- Thursday, 26 February 2026
- Medium Gallery
Weapons. Country. Home. is an exhibition of Ukrainian artists dedicated to the fourth anniversary of Russia’s large-scale invasion of Ukraine. The project presents works by graduates of the Department of Contemporary Art Practices at the Lviv National Academy of Arts, who reflect through art on the experience of living in wartime.