SECURITY GUARANTEES: THE ORIGAMI DEER BY ZHANNA KADYROVA  ON THE WAY TO VENICE

13.03.2026 - 14.03.2026
With Zhanna Kadyrova

On 13-14 March 2026, DAAD Artists-in-Berlin Program and CTM Festival in Berlin will host the presentation of The Origami Deer (2019), a sculpture by Ukrainian artist Zhanna Kadyrova, as part of the public program of the National Pavilion of Ukraine at the 61st International Art Exhibition — La Biennale di Venezia. The Pavilion project, Security Guarantees, is curated by Ksenia Malykh and Leonid Marushchak.

In 2019, Zhanna Kadyrova created the concrete sculpture The Origami Deer as a permanent public artwork for a park in Pokrovsk, Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine, on the site of a dismantled Soviet nuclear-capable aircraft. In August 2024, as the front line approached Pokrovsk and the civilian population began to evacuate, Zhanna Kadyrova, Leonid Marushchak, and a team of installers dismantled the sculpture and relocated it to a safer city. In 2025, The Origami Deer began its journey to Venice.

Both the project and its public program invite reflection on what were once termed “security assurances” under the Budapest Memorandum, reconsidered in the light of current realities and emphasising their critical relevance for Ukraine and its people. The Berlin public program includes a film screening, a conversation with the artist and curators, and an evening music performance. 

Friday, 13 March
ca. 5:00 pm: sculpture arriving at Oranienplatz / daadgalerie
7:00 pm: screening of the film IDP (dir. Zhanna Kadyrova, 2025), followed by a discussion with Zhanna Kadyrova, Ksenia Malykh and Leonid Marushchak. The conversation will touch on Zhanna Kadyrova’s work The Forest, currently on view at Echoes of Tumult in Kunstraum Kreuzberg, ending with Q&A with the audience. 

Saturday, 14 March
5:00 pm – 10:00 pm – open air event at a nearby public space (tba)

daadgalerie, Oranienstraße 161, 10969 Berlin
Free admission

The events and short-term fellowship for Zhanna Kadyrova are part of a special program by the German Foreign Office for artists and cultural professionals from Ukraine.

Image: Presentation of the sculpture in Ivano-Frankivsk. 2025. Photo: Anton Sorochak