02.03.2026

Opening remarks were delivered by Vice President of the NAA of Ukraine, Academician of the NAA of Ukraine, People’s Artist of Ukraine Yurii Vakulenko, as well as by the curators of the project — Academic Secretary of the Modern Art Research Institute Andrii Sydorenko and Research Fellow of the Department of Theory and History of Culture of the Modern Art Research Institute Iryna Yatsyk, who emphasised the relevance of the presented exhibition.
“Cloud Storage” initiates a public discussion on art as a means of reflecting on the past, the asynchronicity of history and collective memory, the fragility of cultural heritage, war as a factor in the formation of new memory in Ukraine, and the limits of the digitalisation of human experience.

In March, the openings of the next venues of the “Cloud Storage” project will take place at the M17 Contemporary Art Center and the Modern Art Research Institute.
Admission to the exhibition at the Academy is free.

The legend of the Library of Alexandria, where the most valuable works of ancient philosophers were lost to fire, reminds us that it is wiser to build not a single perfect library, but thousands of them across the world. Today, amid a new wave of barbarism sweeping the globe, this strategy remains profoundly relevant. Yet it is not only the carriers of information that are under threat, but the carriers of culture as well.While archives can be digitised, collective memory cannot yet be fully “uploaded to the cloud.” For collective memory is not merely about information; it concerns how we perceive our past and what we choose to regard within it as truth or falsehood.Today, in a time of war in Ukraine, a new chapter is being written not only in history, but also in collective memory – one in which the most valuable element is the shared experience of overcoming profound trials. This memory cannot be destroyed by missiles or drones, for it is not confined to a single trench or shelter. It exists wherever people remember who brought war to our land and at what cost our freedom is sustained.
The organisers of the artistic event are: the National Academy of Arts of Ukraine, the M17 Contemporary Art Center, and the Modern Art Research Institute of the National Academy of Arts of Ukraine.
The project coordinators representing the institutions are Corresponding Member of the National Academy of Arts of Ukraine Andrii Puchkov, Director of the M17 Art Center Nataliia Shpytkovska, and Junior Research Fellow of the Department of Curatorial Exhibition Activities and Cultural Exchanges Ihor Abramovych.