Danylo Halkin Joins the Ukrainian Fund of Digitized Art

We are thrilled to announce that another outstanding artist has joined the Ukrainian Fund of Digitized Art (UFDA)! Meet Danylo Halkin, whose three remarkable works have been digitized by UFDA in the highest possible resolution.

Danylo Halkin is a сontemporary Ukrainian artist and curator born in 1985 in Dnipro, Ukraine. He studied at the Dnipropetrovsk Theater and Art College before continuing his education at the Academy of Civil Engineering and Architecture.

In 2018, the artist founded an independent NGO Pridneprovskiy barvinok. Two years later, in 2020, he founded an exhibition space, "Barvinok Art Residence". 

Danylo Halkin has received numerous awards and accolades, including the Grand Prix MUXI-2011 and the Third Special PinchukArtCentre Prize (2013).

Before the large-scale war in Ukraine, the artist lived and worked in Dnipro. He has participated in several notable residencies, including the Antre Peaux Art Center and The Box Art Center in Bourges (2023), as well as the Cité internationale des arts in Paris (2023-2024). His works have been showcased in solo and group exhibitions in South Korea, Berlin, London, Bratislava, Prague, and Kyiv.

The artist engages with public spaces through spatial installations, happenings, and site-specific art. He works with public space, exploring human life within a system that entails pervasive control and oppression, as well as obstacles in the form of various traps of social injustice. 

Danylo Halkin collaborates with state and municipal art institutions to examine Soviet-era heritage in Eastern Europe, encouraging its reinterpretation and preservation. After Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, he began a project focusing on Soviet decorative art, particularly stained-glass windows in hospitals, military offices, and fire stations.

By connecting the artistic legacy of the past with the harsh realities of Ukraine's ongoing war, Halkin weaves historical themes into his contemporary work.

The UFDA team digitized three works by Halkin from his Optical Prostheses series (2022-2025). 

The artist, inspired by examples of Soviet decorative and applied art, such as stained-glass windows in hospitals, military recruitment offices, and fire stations in the Dnipro region, has created a cohesive statement embedded within the context of wartime.

In the black-and-white paintings, stained-glass windows are portrayed against a smoky sky, their surfaces coated in soot. These windows were either damaged by missile strikes or broken during decommunization efforts. The artist appears to affix the shattered fragments to the canvas, giving them both a new meaning and the status of art they never held before.

We are proud to welcome Danylo Halkin to UFDA and to showcase his incredible contributions to Ukrainian art. By digitizing his works, UFDA ensures that Halkin’s impactful creations are accessible to audiences worldwide.

Stay tuned for more updates on our growing collection and the artists who bring it to life!