KSADA PROJECT “HAPPINESS SQUARED” AT THE MUSEUM OF BOOK AND PRINTING OF UKRAINE
From April 24 to May 24, 2026, the Museum of Book and Printing of Ukraine will host the art exhibition “Happiness Squared” for the first time in Kyiv, featuring works by lecturers and graduates of the Kharkiv State Academy of Design and Arts. The event, dedicated to the 40th anniversary of the Department of Monumental Painting, serves as a symbol of artistic resistance and hope, expressing faith in victory and a brighter future through creativity. The official opening of the exhibition will take place on April 24 at 4:00 PM.
The exhibition project “Happiness Squared”, initiated by Professor Eugeny KOTLYAR in the spring of 2020, began as an initiative to support young artists during the COVID-19 pandemic. Artists from around the world, including graduates and students of KSADA, created nearly “40 square metres of happiness” within the proposed 1 m² format. These individual visions became a collective artistic exploration of the nature of happiness in its social, psychological, emotional, and other dimensions.
On February 24, 2022, when Russia’s full-scale invasion abruptly overshadowed the pandemic, the theme of searching for happiness took on new meaning as a source of artistic resistance, light, and life, as well as a reflection on the value and meaning of existence for both individuals and a nation as a whole. The exhibition offers a pathway for overcoming crisis and encourages viewers to search for their own formula for happiness.
The project brought together about a hundred participants, including graduates and lecturers from the Departments of Monumental Painting, Multimedia Design, Audiovisual Arts, and Graphic Design of KSADA.
Between 2023 and 2025, the exhibition project was showcased throughout the areas affected by the war, including public spaces and museums in Kharkiv, Nizhyn, Hlukhiv, Dnipro and Okhtyrka, later moving to the opposite side of Ukraine, to Uzhhorod. The exhibition at the Museum of Book and Printing of Ukraine marks the project’s first presentation in Kyiv. It conveys the shared impulse of hope and the power of artistic resistance from east to west, and now to the nation’s capital, affirming a common path for all Ukrainians towards freedom and happiness.
The exhibition is supported by the Ukrainian Cultural Foundation, the Eastern Regional Scientific and Art Centre of the National Academy of Arts of Ukraine, and the Kharkiv State Academy of Design and Arts.
Dates: April 24 – May 24, 2026
Opening hours: Daily, except Monday and Tuesday, 10:00 AM – 5:00 PM
Admission: Museum ticket required
Location and contact details:
Based on material from the official website of the Museum of Book and Printing of Ukraine.
