16.10 at 6 pm – Opening of the “I am a problem here.?” exhibition

On October 16, 2025, at 6:00 PM, M17 Contemporary Art Center will host the opening of the exhibition project “I am a problem here.?”, curated by Maria Kulikovska. 

Registration for the opening via the link.

The exhibition brings together works by 41 female artists from different generations, regions, and experiences — from Crimea and Kyiv to those living in exile or along the frontiers. The project explores women’s experiences within the reality of war and the challenges they face through their presence in society and culture.

The “I am a problem here.?” exhibition questions the very idea of what is considered “normal” for a woman in times of war — or rather, it reveals the impossibility of such normalcy. In a prolonged conflict, female presence is always marked as somehow “wrong”: too emotional, too silent, too protected, too visible, too ‘escaped’, too ‘stayed’.

It is this presence — the one that disrupts the established order — that is labelled “a problem”: what doesn’t fit neatly into categories, asks too many questions, remains silent too loudly, and refuses to disappear — not after childbirth or ageing, not after invisibility, death, or war.

“I am a problem here.?” is not an exhibition about “women’s art” as a separate category, nor is it about the figure of the “woman-hero” in war narratives. It is about women who persist. Artists who continue to create and live, despite everything. Their presence is not a symbol, not a group identity. They are not a “circle” or a “survey of women’s art.” They are subjects of art, each with her own distinct language — and together, they pose questions and challenges to the system, to history, to culture.

In this sense, the exhibition does not aim to answer the question “What is a woman’s place in war?” — instead, it resists the very premise of that question. It is a heterogeneous field of interventions, where female presence refuses to disappear, refuses to ask for permission, and refuses to be simplified. It lingers, expands, and accumulates layers.

Artists of the project: AntiGonna, Diana Berg, Svitlana Biedarieva, Julia Beliaeva, Oksana Briukhovetska, Dasha Chechushkova, Polina Choni, Olena Dombrovska, Margo Dubovska, Ksenia Hnylytska, Alevtina Kakhidze, Daria Khozhai, Kinderseele, Alina Kopytsia, Anastasiia Kulik, Maria Kulikovska, Nina Lahuta, Anastasiia Leliuk, Kateryna Lisova, Liuba Malikova, Maria Matiashova, Daria Molokoiedova, Polina Moroz, Sevilâ Nariman-qizi, Orlan, Alina Prokopenko, Masha Reva, Richka, Rina Riga, Anna Serzhant, Polina Shcherbyna, Tania Shcheglova, Maryna Skuharieva, Olga Stein, Yevheniia Sydorenko, Karina Synytsia, Maryna Talutto, Tamara Turliun, Anastasiia Tymoshenko, V (anonymous artist), Emine Ziyatdin.

Learn more about the project here

Opening of the project: Thursday, October 16, 2025, at 6:00 PM

Admission to the opening is free with prior registration. Registration is available via the link.

Address: 102-104 V. Antonovycha St., Kyiv city, Ukraine

Project Curator — Maria Kulikovska

Director of M17 CAC — Natalia Shpytkovska

The exhibition is supported by Adamovskiy Foundation.