Beton or бетон in both Ukrainian and German language, becomes the unifying material in this collaborative investigation. For both artists, it serves as a powerful symbol of construction and destruction, permanence and fragility, connection and division. Maksym, based in Kyiv, began working with concrete in the winter of 2022, sinking ready-made objects into its liquid form to create new and distorted connections. Eva, who has had ties to Ukraine since 2008, was drawn to the material since noticing its omnipresence in connection with war. Through her video work, she documented the fluidity of concrete as it was molded, altered, and destroyed—a picture for the fleeting nature of stability.

Their collaboration emerged as a process of meeting through the sensuality of the material—finding a common language that transcends the limitations of spoken word. Their associations are highly personal and deeply contextual. As artists from two countries living through the experience of war very differently, they engage with the material in ways that reflect their own experiences of fragmentation and resilience. Their art speaks to this shared exploration, where differences of language, culture, and identity fade into the background as their collaboration becomes an independent perspective, joining the two.

And as the fragility of security in Ukraine is more real than ever we want to dedicate this exhibition to our friends at the frontlines, making sure that we can keep the places to create. Shooting down the endless amount of drones and rockets over our heads, every day and every night. Keeping the enemy out of as much Ukrainian territory as possible with their own bodies and lives. Many of whom could be creating incredible art themselves now, create a future together with us. Please support our friends in their defense and medical units, and the volunteer organizations who keep on doing their valuable work