Beyond the Shadow

On March 27, 2025, the new exhibition project “Beyond the Shadow” was opened at the M17 CAC, Kyiv. 

The exhibition showcases works by Daniel Arsham, Nazar Bilyk, Kateryna Buchatska, Diana Demyanenko, Olena Dombrovska, Zhanna Kadyrova, Anish Kapoor, Alicja Kwade, Vartan Markarian, Serhiy Nizhynsky, Serhiy Popov, Bettina Pousttchi, Sergii Radkevych, Ugo Rondinone, Kostyantyn Rudeshko, Yuriy Syvyryn, Myroslav Vayda, and VJ Yarkus. 

The project explores the perception of space, time, and reality. Art serves as a portal to dimensions beyond the ordinary, inviting viewers to discover new perspectives beyond their existing worldview. “Beyond the Shadow” is an attempt to approach the invisible, rethink materiality, and unveil new horizons of existence. 

The human universe unfolds within three dimensions. It’s not merely a generally accepted reality; it’s also a reflection of the metaphysical progress of our consciousness. We perceive space through the interaction of our senses with the environment. The essence of existence goes beyond physical perception but is enriched by individual imagination and comprehension. Yet, the desire to transcend matter and time’s constraints seems utopian today.

In the early 20th century, Albert Einstein introduced a groundbreaking concept of the fourth dimension, proposing that space and time are not separate but intrinsically linked. He illustrated this through the notion of “spacetime,” where time functions as one of the dimensions alongside the three spatial ones. 

We engage with time through experience — it structures the way of being, delineating the trajectory from birth to death. Yet, despite the understanding of its nature, we cannot traverse it freely as through other dimensions. One cannot return to the past or peer into the future.

By the late 1970s, a group of physicists developed string theory, which suggests the existence of more than ten spatial dimensions. For beings bound to a three-dimensional framework, conceiving a higher-dimensional reality is challenging. Tracing an analogy with projections: a square is the shadow of a cube in three-dimensional space, a cube is the shadow of a tesseract (a four-dimensional hypercube), and the tesseract, in turn, is but the projection of a five-dimensional form. By this logic, our world may be nothing more than the shadow of other, unperceived realities existing alongside it.  

Some physicists suggest that time itself is an illusion — a mere construct for the sequence of events unfolding within space. Does this imply that human life is endless, capable only of transforming in form and dimension, while every object persists eternally in various projections? If so, then virtual art may hold the key to a transcendent being, enhancing human imagination.

It is human perception, that constructs one’s reality — assumptions, awareness, and belief in the existence of certain phenomena have historically led to transformations of planetary scale.

Throughout history, scientific advancements have sparked artists’ creative pursuits, leading to radical experiments with form, space, motion, optics, and materiality — all in an effort to better comprehend and express the matter of being.

Research into the nature of human perception gave rise to Cubism, where artists deconstructed and reassembled space across multiple perspectives. Theories of motion in physics inspired Futurists to break beyond spatial confines, discovering dynamic movement through abstraction.

Yet overcoming the constraints of three-dimensionality demanded alternative approaches impossible to realize within a physical object. The search for “pure art” was taken up by the Suprematists, who abandoned representational imagery, instead appealing to new emotional and spiritual senses through colour and form. In pursuit of new dimensions, artists either turned to magical insights drawn from the subconscious or conversely, emphasised the primacy of the idea and the concept of the artist as the creator.

Idea, senses, imagination and intuition form a unique modern “fourth axis” in the process of imaginary “construction”. Technologies now make possible what once seemed impossible.

“Beyond the Shadow” is a rethinking of space, reality and time — fundamental concepts that shape the human vision of the world and define the boundaries between the real and the imagined. Within this context, artists not only equally contribute along with scientists to universal exploration but become unique prophets of today.

M17 Work Hours: Tuesday – Sunday, 11:00–20:00 (Monday – closed)

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

Admission fees:

Full price ticket = 150 UAH

Concessions = 100 UAH

Tickets can be purchased at the M17 CAC.

The exhibition is supported by Adamovskiy Foundation.

Concept Development: Natalia Shpytkovska  

M17 Contemporary Art Center Team: Fedir Sehin, Sofiia Ivanyshchenko, Yuliya Bukus, Maria Pylypenko, Diana Kosolapova and Pavlo Shevchuk.

M17 Contemporary Art Center is a cultural institution that functions as an educational and research platform, an exhibition venue for Ukrainian and foreign contemporary art. The activities of the Center are aimed at creating a dialogue space for professional circles and all the representatives of the culture sector as a whole, at study and research of contemporary and related historical cultural processes. M17 supports art experiments, collaborations and international exchanges of experts, artists from various art fields, in order to integrate Ukrainian art into the world context.

Adamovskiy Foundation is a non-profit foundation founded in 2018 by businessman Andriy Adamovskiy. The Foundation’s activities are aimed at preserving and studying the cultural heritage of Ukraine and Eastern Europe. The Foundation’s mission is to promote culture and art as a guarantee of sustainable and enlightened development of society. The Foundation is actively involved in organising and supporting exhibition projects, publishing initiatives, educational and discussion platforms, international forums and expert sessions.