← Back
UNBOXING
On 28th June we’ll unbox the works by: Yulia Bondar, Yaroslav Futymskyi, INAKSHE, Nikolay Karabinovych, Anna Niykytiuk, Anna Potiomkina and Ksenia Pohrebennyk, Hanna Trofimova, Stanislav Turina. The works will be unboxed by Alona Karavai.
«unboxing» is a conversation and a participatory session exploring radically different perspectives on the war in Ukraine based on a box with seven art objects brought by cultural worker Alona Karavai. Together, we will unpack these art objects, discussing each piece as it emerges from the box and later on creating together an improvised exhibition situation. This is an invitation to a nuanced conversation and a more intimate form of curation—one where all involved work and interpret side-by-side instead of in-front-of. White gloves provided; curiosity required.
“unboxing” explores complex, conflicting, sometimes heavy and sometimes funny experiences of eternal war and crisis time. It deals with migration, broken personal ties and broken life plans, shifted ideologies, vulnerable landscapes and same vulnerable memories, as well as with post-traumatic growth which sometimes cannot keep up with the ongoing pace of happening. At the same time, “unboxing” is an act of imagination — a try to find an autonomous alternative to how we could meet art and each other on eye level. It comes at a time when cultural work is being steadily squeezed out (again) of shrinking physical spaces by a conservative tandem of neoliberal productivity and geopolitical strain. Moving art from its decorative isolation in sterile rooms back to the heart of community consensus and dissensus, we adopt a viral digital format—people watching other people unboxing things. Ultimately, for Ukrainian realities—and far beyond—when artists cannot travel, a simple box still can. And with time, perhaps it will learn to travel entirely on its own without a human to accompany it.
Yulia Bondar (b. 2000) is a self-taught artist, a chemist by education. After the start of the full-scale invasion, she moved from Kharkiv to Ivano-Frankivsk. Currently she serves in the Ukrainian Defense Forces, where she volunteered as a medical support worker at a military hospital, while continuing to work with graphics and objects.
Yaroslav Futymskyi (b. 1987) is an artist and curator whose multidisciplinary practice is deeply intertwined with his nomadic lifestyle and the people he encounters. His work spans performance, installation, and poetry, often manifesting as “scenarios” constructed from memories, theoretical reflections, and the spatial arrangement of everyday objects. Beyond his explorations of sentimental and political landscapes, Futymskyi is known for his long-term project documenting the domestic histories of young subcultures. He maintains a fluid presence across Ukraine, living and working between several bases.
INAKSHE (formerly INACHE) is an artistic duo formed in 2022 as a continuation of the Donetsk-based collective of the same name. Originally a three-person group operating in occupied Donetsk in 2021, the collective focused on performative exhibitions that addressed the realities of occupation, the devaluation of the individual voice, and the pursuit of inner strength through art. Today, INAKSHE consists of Gera and Oleksiy, who work between Ukraine and the Netherlands, further developing the themes first explored during their Donetsk exhibitions.
Yaroslav Futymskyi (b. 1987) is an artist and curator whose multidisciplinary practice is deeply intertwined with his nomadic lifestyle and the people he encounters. His work spans performance, installation, and poetry, often manifesting as “scenarios” constructed from memories, theoretical reflections, and the spatial arrangement of everyday objects. Beyond his explorations of sentimental and political landscapes, Futymskyi is known for his long-term project documenting the domestic histories of young subcultures. He maintains a fluid presence across Ukraine, living and working between several bases.
Nikolay Karabinovych (b. 1988) is an artist from Odesa, based in Antwerp, who works with video, performance, sound, and sculpture. In his artistic practice, he addresses complex social (hi)stories, particularly those from the expanses of “Eastern Europe” combining them with personal family narratives. In his work, he questions notions of belonging and exclusion and often refers to music, revisiting epochal songs, genres and personalities.
Anna Nykytiuk (b. 1998) is a Lviv-based multidisciplinary artist whose work explores privacy, collective trauma, and memory. A graduate of the Lviv National Academy of Arts, she balances a collective practice in animation scenography with an individual focus on archival images being transited onto canvas, often featuring people without faces and addressing false memories. In 2026, at the invitation of Jam Factory, she is co-creating a performative program as part of the “Disposable Collective,” a temporary assembly of artists.
Anna Potiomkina (b. 1996) is an Ivano-Frankivsk-based artist, curator, and cultural manager. Born in Mykolaiv and educated in Lviv and Poznań, she works across video, text, and performative practices. Her work investigates the intersection of memory and the body, the relationship between physicality and landscape, and the socio-cultural manifestations of the periphery. She is a co-founder of Assortmentna Kimnata.
Ksenia Pohrebennyk (b. 1994) is a multidisciplinary artist originally from Kherson. Raised and educated in Bilbao, she relocated to Ivano-Frankivsk at the start of the full-scale invasion, where she is currently based. As a co-founder of the Memory Lab art collective, her practice focuses on the investigation of memory through the lens of her personal archives.
Hanna Trofimova (b. 1986) is a film director and artist who graduated from the Karpenko-Karyi University of Theatre, Cinema, and Television. Her multidisciplinary practice, spanning documentary film, video art, and installation, initially focused on social justice, human rights, and the acceptance of corporeality. Her recent body of work has shifted to explore the collective trauma, emotional “numbness,” and memory shaped by the full-scale war.
Stanislav Turina (b. 1988) is a Kyiv-based artist, writer, and curator originally from Makiivka (Donetsk region) and Mukacheve (Uzhhorod region). Co-founder of the Open Group collective and the atelienormalno studio, his practice is rooted in social inclusion and collaborative research, particularly with neurodiverse artists. Turina has represented Ukraine at the Venice Biennale multiple times and since the full-scale invasion he has been balancing his artistic output with humanitarian work for people with disabilities in psychiatric and boarding facilities in Kyiv and suburbs.
Alona Karavai (b. 1982) is a cultural worker and essayist originally from Donetsk region, who co-founded Asortymentna kimnata and publishing project ilostmylibrary. Her work explores peripheries, absence, vitality, and death. She is currently developing the Festival of Death in Kyiv and doing participatory “unboxing” sessions in Ukraine and beyond borders.
“unboxing” has been developed within the Socially Engaged Arts fellowship with the support of the Alliance for Socially Engaged Arts. The Fellowship is designed and implemented in collaboration with The Audience Agency, Culture Action Europe, and Fitzcarraldo Foundation.
EXHIBITION OPENING:
Friday 28 June 2026
From 14:00 to 18:00
This event is at 571 Oxford Road, RG30 1HL Reading. Public transport is available from Reading town center and Reading station if you are visiting from elsewhere.
Organised by Alona Karavai