In May 2025, thesteinstudio hosted its first performance program, curated by Valeriia Buradzhyieva.
The program included nine performances representing a wide range of performative practices — from body-oriented performances (Stanislav Turina, Natalia Lisova, Rita Lira, Danylo Zubkov, Anna Shevchenko) to hybrid formats such as extended cinema (Max Svitlo and Salt Salome), relational art (Variable Name), and theatrical reading (Valeria Shiller and Zhenya Stepanenko). The performances were accompanied by an educational program, including a lecture by Larisa Venediktova on how to watch performance, a workshop by Yaryna Shumska on how to create one, and a public podcast recording with theatre director Illia Razumeiko.
This marked thesteinstudio’s first comprehensive attempt to explore how a space primarily dedicated to visual art can become a medium for performative practices. The relationship between performer and viewer took on different forms, with boundaries blurring not only formally but also contextually — raising the question of what kind of space performance inhabits. Here, the performative unfolded at the intersection of institutional openness and the intimacy of a studio hidden in a residential courtyard, which at times also became a stage. The program examined how both the studio and its surrounding environment shift under the influence of the performative gesture, and how the gesture itself becomes embedded in the architecture, atmosphere, and social contexts of the place.
Program
May 7 — Public podcast recording with Illia Razumeiko
May 9 — Zhenya Stepanenko and Valeria Shiller, Canceled Love
May 11 — Lecture by Larisa Venediktova, Decoding Performance: How to Watch?
May 13–14 — Workshop by Yaryna Shumska, Performance: Movement, Gesture, Action, Sign
May 15 — Anna Shevchenko, Empty Form
May 18 — Natalia Lisova, Moment
May 23 — Rita Lira, The Trap
May 25 — Stanislav Turina, Here—There
May 30 — Variable Name, Light for Their Own
May 31 — Max Svitlo and Salt Salome, Signs for Those Born on Earth: Horse, Rider and Chronic Apocalypse
June 1 — Danylo Zubkov, Dance with a Drone
The project was implemented with the support of the Ukrainian-Danish Youth House.