For nearly a decade, Nahirna 22 occupied a unique place in Kyiv’s cultural landscape. Emerging organically within the former Kyiv Institute of Automation, the hub became one of the city’s earliest and most significant artist-led spaces - a self-organized community where artists working across different media could create, exhibit, and exchange ideas outside traditional institutional frameworks. Over the years, more than a hundred artists passed through its studios, helping transform an abandoned Soviet-era building into a vital center of contemporary artistic production and collective experimentation.
The influence of Nahirna 22 continues to resonate through the careers of many artists who developed their practice within its walls. Several artists represented by The Art Unit were part of the Nahirna 22 community, including Olena Shtepura, Polina Shcherbyna, Maksym Mazur, and Sergiy Kondratiuk. Their work reflects the spirit of experimentation, independence, and collaboration that defined the hub and helped establish it as one of Kyiv’s most important artist-led cultural initiatives.
Maksym Mazur, founder of Instytut Avtomatyky - an experimental art space and collective that prioritizes conceptual and process-driven practices over mimetic representation—began renting a studio at Nahirna 22 in the autumn of 2017. 'At that time, finding an affordable and suitable space for a young artist in Kyiv was extremely difficult,' Maksym recalls. 'It was a place filled with creative energy. Most of the studio tenants were young artists with new ideas, ambitions, and a desire to create their own initiatives.'
Open Studio Days became a recurring event at the Institute, built on principles of openness and collaboration. 'Everyone who worked in the building could join the event, present their work directly in their studio, and become part of a large exhibition that offered an alternative to the traditional gallery format,' Maksym explains.
Following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Nahirna 22 took on an even deeper significance. The hub became both a creative refuge and a symbol of cultural resilience, sustaining artistic activity under wartime conditions while continuing to host exhibitions, residencies, workshops, and its celebrated Open Studio Days. Despite suffering severe damage from aerial attacks on Kyiv - including multiple drone strikes that shattered windows, damaged studios, and destroyed artworks—the community repeatedly rebuilt and reopened, refusing to abandon the space. Through collective effort and international solidarity, Nahirna 22 continued to function as a place where artists could create, gather, and make visible the realities of contemporary Ukraine.
For Maksym, the Institute of Automation has always been, first and foremost, a space for experimentation. 'In 2020, together with Andriy Pidlisny, we founded the group Instytut Avtomatyky - an initiative that emerged from our interest in the local context of the building,' he says. 'We used various spaces within the institute for self-organized exhibitions: the assembly hall, the bomb shelter, the old library, and other premises.' Between 2023 and 2025, the initiative further developed as an artist-run space, establishing collaborations with German artists through the Spiegelhand residency programme.
As of 1 June 2026, Nahirna 22 no longer exists. After years of uncertainty and wartime challenges, the community was forced to leave its long-standing home in the Kyiv Institute of Automation, bringing an end to a remarkable chapter in Kyiv’s independent art history. Its disappearance not only marks the loss of a physical space, but also of a rare model of artistic self-organization that helped shape a generation of Ukrainian artists. Yet the legacy of Nahirna 22 endures in the networks, collaborations, and creative energy it fostered over nearly ten years, leaving an indelible mark on the city’s contemporary art scene.
“Of course, I always understood that places like this are fragile and may disappear sooner or later. But at the same time, I wanted to believe that this phenomenon would be noticed, understood, and preserved. Over the years, a unique environment emerged here—something that cannot be artificially created or established through administrative decisions.
But this is life. I am grateful for everything that happened here, for the people I met, for the projects that were realized, and for the experience we all gained. I believe there will be new places and new forms of cooperation ahead. What emerged at Nahirna does not disappear with the building—it continues to exist in the people, the connections, and the experiences that were created here.”
