The project “Place of Presence: Memory, Creativity, Life” has been organised with the support of the Ukrainian Cultural Foundation as part of the “Culture. Regions” programme.

On 1 September 2026, the Kharkiv State Academy of Design and Arts held the opening of the exhibition Pangram: “Letters on the Front Line”.

The exhibition opening was held in both in-person and online formats, with sign-language interpretation, making the event more accessible to a wider audience.  The event brought together over 320 participants — representatives of the artistic and academic communities, students, lecturers, partners, cultural figures, and everyone who joined the event remotely.

During the opening ceremony, discussions extended beyond letters, typography, and graphics to encompass Ukrainian identity, memory, freedom, and the ability of culture to resist even in times of war.

The exhibition is held as part of the project “Place of Presence: Memory, Creativity, Life”, implemented with the support of the Ukrainian Cultural Foundation. The project is dedicated to Kharkiv artists who defend Ukraine either with weapons in hand or through the means of art.

The exhibition features 100 poster works created between 2016 and 2026 by participants of the International Competition on Fonts and Calligraphy Pangram. It is an exhibition about type as an artistic image, the word as a means of communication, and the letter as an element of cultural self-identification.

A distinctive feature of this year’s exhibition is its simultaneous presence in Kharkiv and Warsaw.This symbolic connection between two cities demonstrates that Ukrainian culture has not only endured but continues to maintain a strong presence in the global cultural space.

Opening the exhibition, KSADA Rector Oleksandr SOBOLIEV emphasised the particular importance of art for frontline Kharkiv: “Type is the visual language of a nation. Without type, there can be no nation and no state. It is vital that even during wartime, new fonts are being developed to help identify us across the world”.

The invited guest, Archpriest Dmytro ISHCHUK, Dean of the Kharkiv-Poltava Eparchy of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, also addressed the audience. He emphasised that language, culture and art are integral components of national identity. Creative work born in times of war eventually becomes part of historical memory.

Head of the National Union of Artists of Ukraine Kostiantyn CHERNIAVSKYI stressed the role of art in Ukraine’s struggle: “The era in which we all find ourselves living today is an era of struggle, an era of hope and an era of faith. Projects such as these make an important contribution to the cultural, artistic and information front”.

Head of the Kharkiv Regional Branch of the National Union of Artists of Ukraine Viktor KOVTUN spoke on the connection between contemporary Ukrainian design and Kharkiv’s artistic tradition, noting the continuity of the Kharkiv School of Graphics and its contribution to the development of Ukrainian typography and graphic art.

Exhibition co-curator, Ukrainian designer, artist, and researcher Oleksii CHEKAL focused on the history of Kharkiv typographic culture and the formation of modern Ukrainian visual identity: “We are gradually stripping away layers of Soviet and Russian imperial influences to discover our own identity through typography. I believe that this project contributes to the further development of Ukrainian type”.

Today, the front is not only a line of military operations.

There is an information front. A cultural front. A visual front.

And these fronts also need their own symbols, their own language, their own imagery.

Pangram: “Letters on the Front Line” is precisely about this — about culture’s ability to preserve memory while creating the new. About the Ukrainian letter gradually freeing itself from foreign imperial layers. About artists who continue to work and speak through the language of art. And about Kharkiv — a city that, despite the war, remains a place of creativity, education and cultural life.

Special words of gratitude were expressed to the Armed Forces of Ukraine during the opening ceremony. It is thanks to our defenders that the Academy continues to operate, students continue to study, and artists continue to create new projects.

Pangram: “Letters on the Front Line” is now officially open!

Today, every letter in this exposition resonates as a quiet yet profound testament: We exist. We create. We endure.

We invite you to explore the Pangram: “Letters on the Front Line” exhibition online at: https://www.ksada.org/vystavkova-ekspozycziya-pangram-litery-na-liniyi-frontu-harkiv/

Special thanks to Anna Yaremenko and Oleksandr Akerman for providing the photographs.