2025

„24 – 2 = 2022“ 

09.01.2025 – 24.02.2025

St. Matthew’s Foundation in Berlin 

In February 2014, the new war in Europe began with Russia’s attack on Ukraine and occupation
of the Crimean Peninsula. 
In February 2022, the war of aggression spread to the whole of Ukraine. The war has changed Europe and the world — not only politics, but also the souls of people. On the occasion of the remembrance day of the outbreak of the war of aggression, the Polish artist Renata Rara Kaminska and the Ukrainian artist Alevtina Kakhidze have joined forces to create an artistic symbol. A site-specific installation is being created for St. Matthew’s Foundation around the theme of “borders” — a dialogue between the artists, with the history of their home countries and with the church interior, which can be understood as a resonance chamber of hope. The exhibition opening took place on January 10, 2025, with a welcome address by Hannes Langbein, director of the St. Matthew Foundation, and an introduction by Dr. Kateryna Rietz-Rakul, director of the Ukrainian Institute in Germany.
A panel discussion took place at St. Matthew’s Foundation on February 24, 2025. 
The Ambassador of Ukraine, Oleksii Makeiev, and the Chargé d’Affaires ad interim of the Republic of Poland, Jan Tombiński, welcomed the guests. Afterwards, a panel discussion moderated by Dr. Kateryna Rietz-Rakul, director of the institute. Participants include Prof. Dr. Jörg Heiser (UdK Berlin), Kim Brian Dudek (Director of the Chemnitzer Pochen Biennale), as well as representatives of the Polish Institute.
The exhibition is organized with the kind support of the Foundation for German-Polish
Cooperation, the Embassy of Ukraine in the Federal Republic of Germany, the Ukrainian Institute
in Germany, the Embassy of the Republic of Poland in Berlin and the Polish Institute in Berlin.

Artist:
Alevtina Kakhidze
Renata Rara Kaminska
Curator:
Hannes Langbein
Cooperation:
Prof. Dr. Jörg Heiser
Kim Brian Dudek
Dr. Kateryna Rietz-Rakul
Partners:
Ukrainian Institute Germany, Polish Institute Berlin, Foundation for German-Polish Cooperation

Alevtina Kakhidze
At altar
Poor, poor Sosnovsky’s hogweed
This plant in Ukraine is called
Abomination
Invaider
and Stalin’s Revenge
It was brought to Ukraine from the Caucasus
Stalin was also from the Caucasus
Brought to grow and feed cows
So as not to lose in the Cold War
for our then communist state
But the milk of the cows that ate it turned out to be
bitter
And it also burned their eyes
Sosnovsky’s hogweed turned out to be poisonous
to humans too
It was stopped from being grown
It went wild
It turned out to act as an invasive species
Every summer it captures new territories from local plants
Sosnovsky’s hogweed has been criminalized
Article 143 of the Land Code of Ukraine
A hectare of its release costs $650
This was calculated in Estonia
We were with them in the same communist state
In contemporary Russia named a new weapon after
the Borshchivnik Sosnovsky
Poor, poor Sosnovsky’s hogweed!