On May 12, 2025, the opening of the 24th International Exhibition of the Milan Triennale took place — one of the world’s most prestigious events in the field of contemporary art and design. Since 1923, the Triennale has brought together leading artists, designers, and researchers and is held every three years. This year’s theme is “Inequalities”. The exhibition features 28 curators and 341 artists from 73 countries — including Qatar, China, Austria, Australia, and Poland — spanning a total of 7,500 square meters of exhibition space.
The Ukrainian pavilion, titled “Ukraine: Inhale/Exhale”, is presented by ZAG Gallery, a contemporary art gallery based in Lviv. The project explores inequality through the lens of war, where the body, memory, and consciousness emerge as the most vulnerable elements. At the same time, art is not shown as a tool for pity but as one of respect — a way to recognize another person in their resilience and dignity.
The exhibition brings together five art objects by five Ukrainian artists:
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Volodymyr Semkiv
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Oleksa Furdiak
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Denys Shymanskyi
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Veronika Cherednichenko
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Olha Kuziura
Their works create a kind of “shared cartography” of mentality, bodily resilience, and national identity. The pieces embed metaphors of our reality: from a “ladder leading into the abyss” to a “bottomless lifeboat,” from a “gas mask without gas” to a dream of a closed sky.
Curator: Khrystyna Berehovska, PhD in Art History, Director of ZAG Gallery
Co-curators: Karina Davydova, Vira Tuchapska
The exhibition will be on view in Milan at the Triennale Museum building until November 9, 2025.