EUROPA II. Yuriy Biley

This exhibition of artwork by Yuriy Biley presents a narrative about visual culture of specific moments in the history of three European countries to which the artist is personally connected: Ukraine, Poland and Germany. Instead of focusing on major historical events, Biley focuses on less obvious historical processes that have led to significant political and systemic changes. He describes them from both an external and internal perspective – that of an emigrant and an immigrant. In the exhibition at Studio BWA Wrocław, he addresses the themes of freedom and democracy and explores how they changed in Europe over the course of three decades, through an analysis of archival material dating from the 1960s to the 1990s.

Freedom for All (2023), The Value of These Words Also Depends on You (2021–ongoing), Picturesque Ukraine (2024–ongoing) – each of these series has an underlying symbolic meaning. They address the limits of political influence from the Soviet Union and Western democracy, and how these do not correspond to geographical borders. These shifts have happened slowly, from the West to the East. The artist examines them from a historical perspective, taking into account the differences between Poland, Ukraine, and Germany. He also reflects on how and to what extent these processes have the potential to repeat themselves in the present day, when Ukraine – as the eastern stronghold of European democracy – is fighting for its independence. Among the inhabitants of the aforementioned countries, it is the Ukrainians who are currently engaged in a full-scale war with Russia that is comparable to the Second World War. In these tragic and unstable times, Biley’s perspective on history offers the promise of a happy ending.   

YURIY BILEY was born in 1988 in Uzhhorod (Transcarpathia, Ukraine). He is a visual artist and curator. In 2011 he graduated from the National Academy of Arts in Lviv. Since 2015, he has been living and working in Wrocław, and since 2022 also in Berlin.

In his art, Biley explores themes related to the experience of emigration. He is interested in text and the influence of language as a cultural factor. He creates installations, collages and post-artistic works.

He is a co-founder and member of the Open Group collective (since 2012). The collective won the PinchukArtCentre’s special prize in 2013, and its main prize in 2015. Their works were presented in the Ukrainian Pavilion at the 56th Venice Biennale in 2015, and the collective curated the Ukrainian Pavilion at the 58th Venice Biennale in 2019. In 2024, Open Group will represent Poland at the 60th Venice Biennale, with an exhibition curated by Marta Czyż.

Biley is also a co-founder and curator of two galleries: Detenpyla in Lviv (since 2011) and Nowy Złoty in Wrocław (since 2019). In 2022–2023, he was nominated for Ukraine’s most prestigious award for young artists – the PinchukArtCentre Prize. In 2022, he received the WARTO award from Gazeta Wyborcza Wrocław newspaper and the Allegro Prize’s audience choice award. In 2023, he received the Wojtek Falęcki Prize.

Biley’s work has been exhibited many times, in such galleries and institutions as Stadtmuseum Berlin, the Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw, the Emigration Museum in Gdynia, the Wrocław Contemporary Museum, the National Museum of Art in Kiev, the Museum of Contemporary Art in Olomouc, KVOST – Kunstverein Ost in Berlin, BWA in Zielona Góra, Galeria Labirynt in Lublin, PinchukArtCentre in Kiev, Raster Gallery in Warsaw, and the Jam Factory Art Center in Lviv.

Exhibition extended until 23 June.