Submitted on 24.10.2025 by

“There Is Nothing Solid About Solidarity” — a forum for art and social criticism in Antwerp as part of the Kyiv Biennale 2025

kadr z filmu pokazujący dwa płoty z ostrokołem biegnące po horyzont
Tytus Szabelski-Różniak, Unmaking, 2023, video still. Image courtesy of the artist

“There Is Nothing Solid About Solidarity” is a satellite programme of the Kyiv Biennale 2025, taking place from 24 to 26 October in Antwerp. The three-day forum, featuring artists, curators, researchers, and collectives from Central and Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and Central Asia, will provide a space for critical reflection on the contemporary meaning of solidarity in times of geopolitical crises, wars, and growing inequalities. The programme includes debates, exhibitions, performances, workshops, and musical events, and is organised in collaboration with the M HKA Museum of Contemporary Art in Antwerp and the Adam Mickiewicz Institute.

Kyiv Biennale 2025: satellite programme in Belgium on solidarity and resistance

Contemporary social trends – including the rise of nationalist and fascist movements, human rights crises, genocides, and wars – highlight the fragility of democratic systems based on alliances motivated by shared interests. In this context, the forum brings together artists, curators, researchers, and collectives from Central and Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and Central Asia. It creates a space for critical reflection on the institutions and structures that have shaped the current geopolitical order, as well as on grassroots initiatives that find their place and strength within this landscape.

A forum in Antwerp, Belgium, entitled “There Is Nothing Solid About Solidarity”, deepens reflection on the concept of “Middle East Europe”. This idea is examined from the perspective of post-socialist experiences: on the one hand, it relates to failed attempts to build modern utopias and the painful political, ideological, and economic transformations that followed; on the other, it considers intense cultural exchanges and state-supported “friendships” between countries of the former socialist bloc and the Middle East in the twentieth century.

Exhibitions, performances, debates – an international art forum in October 2025

The forum includes two days of talks, performances, workshops, an exhibition at INBOX in M HKA, a curated video screening, a music evening with DJ sets, and a series of texts published in the MOST magazine. The programme presents a wide spectrum of organisational forms – from individual grassroots projects and community centres to research into historical manifestations of solidarity, friendship, and alliances. Its aim is to stimulate lasting relationships and build new alliances that together create a rich ecosystem of resistance, care and imagination – embodying the idea of solidarity as a willingness to take risks and stand shoulder to shoulder with others. The programme is curated by members of the MOST magazine team (Ewa Borysiewicz, Vera Zalutskaya, Katie Zazenski) and Yulia Krivich.

Programme for the forum “There Is Nothing Solid About Solidarity” in Antwerp

Friday, 24 October 2025 – De Cinema, De Studio

  • 6:00–6:15 pm – Introduction to the forum and film programme by the curators. The film programme “You Dream Better in the Dark” will be screened in a loop at designated times throughout the weekend.

  • 6:15–8:15 pm – “What Does a Landscape Remember?” – presentations by Katarina Jazbec, Beatrice Moumdjian, Tytus Szabelski-Różniak, Driant Zeneli

  • 8:30–11:00 pm – DJ set: Nikolay Karabinovych, Floèmee

Saturday, 25 October 2025 – M HKA

  • 10:00–10:15 am – Welcome by the curators

  • 10:15–11:30 am – “Belonging and Survival” – Alaa Abu Asad, Oleksandra Pogrebnyak, Selma Selman

  • 11:30 am–12:30 pm – “Erasure and Repair” – Dana Kosmina, Nour Shantout

  • 1:30–2:45 pm – “Resistance and Resilience” – Malaka Shwaikh, Antonina Stebur

  • 3:00–3:30 pm – “Circassian Beauty” – performance by Elif Satanaya Özbay

  • 3:45–5:30 pm – “The School of Algorithmic Solidarity” – session with the eeefff collective

Sunday, 26 October 2025 – M HKA

  • 11:00 am–12:00 pm – “As I’m Going to Bed, I Think of the Lange Beeldekensstraat” – city walk with Nikolay Karabinovych (start and finish: M HKA)

  • 12:30–1:45 pm – “Extractive Objectivity” – Asia Bazdyrieva, Samah Hijawi, Basyma Saad

  • 2:45–4:00 pm – “Misuse as a Method” – Fantastic Little Splash, Firas Shehadeh, Kat Zavada

  • 4:00–5:15 pm – “On Institutional Becoming” – DAVRA (Dilda Ramazan), KRAK (Irfan Hošić)

  • 11:00 am–5:15 pm (simultaneously) – “The Practice of Social Interaction” – workshop led by Yasia Khomenko

Participants: Noor Abed, Alaa Abu Asad, Nika Autor, Asia Bazdyrieva, eeefff, fantastic little splash, Floèmee, Samah Hijawi, Irfan Hošić, Saodat Ismailova, Katarina Jazbec, Nikolay Karabinovych, Dana Kavelina, Yasia Khomenko, Bogdana Kosmina, Daryna Mamaisur, Svitlana Matviyenko, Petrică Mogoș, Beatrice Moumdjian, Laura Naum, Elif Satanaya Özbay, Alpesh Kantilal Patel, Oleksandra Pogrebnyak, Maxim Poleacov, Dilda Ramazan, Basyma Saad, Selma Selman, Nour Shantout, Firas Shehadeh, Malaka Shwaikh, Antonina Stebur, Tytus Szabelski-Różniak, Asia Tsisar, Kat Zavada, Driant Zeneli

What Is Solidarity Today? A collective exhibition by artists from Eastern Europe and the Middle East at M HKA

The fifth floor of the Museum of Contemporary Art Antwerp (M HKA) has been dedicated to surprising artistic interventions and intimate pop-up presentations. The space offers an insight into the practices of socially engaged artists and thinkers. The accompanying exhibition “There Is Nothing Solid About Solidarity” poses the questions: What does solidarity mean today? How can we give it form together? The following artists presented their works as part of the collective exhibition at INBOX: Alaa Abu Asad, Fantastic Little Splash, Alevtina Kakhidze, Nikolay Karabinovych, Svitlana Matvienko & Malaka Shwaikh, Ayman Ramadan, and Nika Autor.

The works on display explore how communities organise themselves outside institutions and rigid structures, presenting diverse strategies of resistance, support and networking – even in a reality marked by violence, fear, digital exclusion and social fragmentation. The exhibition shows that solidarity is not a fixed concept, but one that is constantly being redefined – and that empathy and understanding can develop between seemingly distant regions and traditions. It is an invitation to reflect collectively on what solidarity means today, and how it can take on a real, living form.

Kyiv Biennale 2025: “Near East, Far West” – art in the face of geopolitical tensions

The sixth edition of the Kyiv Biennale, entitled “Near East, Far West”, has been prepared by a consortium of curators from the European network L’Internationale. The exhibition explores the concept of “Middle Eastern Europe” – encompassing Central and Eastern Europe, Central Asia, and the Middle East – and analyses geopolitical tensions and (neo)colonial relations within the region. In the context of ongoing wars, ethnic cleansing, and democratic crises, the exhibition highlights how the future of Europe is being shaped today on its eastern borders. It features seven new works commissioned especially for the occasion, alongside pieces from the collections of L’Internationale member institutions. Continuing the transnational model of the 2023 edition, the Kyiv Biennale 2025 will once again take place across multiple locations in Europe.

Presented between 3 October 2025 and 18 January 2026, the artistic projects address themes of imperial violence, war, exploitation, and the lost utopias of emancipation, showing how armed conflicts shape social life, culture and identity. The participating artists confront the histories of colonialism and militarisation while outlining visions of an alternative European project founded on memory, resistance and solidarity. Although deeply rooted in the experience of trauma, the Biennale remains a space for critical reflection and for hope in a future free from violence and domination.

“There Is Nothing Solid About Solidarity” – International Art Forum in Antwerp – Practical Information

  • Forum dates: 24–26 October 2025

  • Venues: De Studio – De Cinema (Maarschalk Gérardstraat 4) and M HKA – Museum of Contemporary Art Antwerp (Leuvenstraat 32)

  • Organisers: Adam Mickiewicz Institute in collaboration with M HKA, De Cinema, and De Studio

  • Curators: Editors of MOST magazine – Ewa Borysiewicz, Vera Zalutskaya, Katie Zazenski – in collaboration with Julia Krivich

  • More information: 2025.kyivbiennial.org and www.muhka.be/en/

  • Financial support: The project is co-financed by the Minister of Culture and National Heritage of the Republic of Poland, in cooperation with the Polish Institute in Brussels

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