ВОЛЯ [VOL.3] VOLIA
Ukrainian Independence Festival
22./23.8.2025
On 22./23.8.2025 Hotel Continental – Art Space in Exile will mark the fourth Independence Day of Ukraine since the full-scale invasion with this year´s edition of the Art Festival ВОЛЯ I VOLIA, bringing together independent Ukrainian artists and creators from across disciplines — visual art, theatre, performance, music, dance, fashion and word — to respond to the meaning of “independence” after more than eleven years of war. Through the works of art, voices and acts of resistance we will ask what it means to celebrate independence in the ongoing reality, its collective and individual aspects, its daily struggle, defiance, endurance, believe and hope.
The Festival ВОЛЯ I VOLIA, which in Ukrainian stands for both “Willpower” and “Freedom” will highlight the strong connections between culture and community that we have been building over the past three years at Hotel Continental. We hold on, stay together and invite you to spend this day with us in reflection, enjoy Ukrainian theatre, music, art, comedy, discussion, bar, food and chill in the garden.
ВОЛЯ I VOLIA SHOWROOM
VOLIA SHOWROOM is an exhibition showcase of unique, high-quality and innovative Ukrainian brands and startups from crossing lines of fashion and art, which prove the talent, creativity and resilience of Ukrainian companies and entrepreneurs despite the ongoing war.
In VOLIA SHOWROOM fashion becomes not only aesthetics, but a public statement about freedom, exile, corporeality, and national memory. Through fashion, performance and physical self-expression, Ukrainian artists rethink the concept of independence in the context of war, loss of home, survival, resistance and cultural reinterpretation in a foreign land.
DZHUS
23.8.2025 GALLERY
DZHUS is a conceptual clothing and accessories brand that has gained international recognition thanks to its multifunctional items made from cruelty-free materials. At VOLIA Festival, DZHUS will present her fashion performance ANTICON - a manifestation of abstract symbolism, a conceptual show that provokes associations on the border of generally accepted categories.
ANTICON
Fashion Performance
23.8.2025 17:00 GALLERY
Fashion Performance and presentation of its new Spring/Summer Collection 2025 of the iconic Ukrainian brand DZHUS
The ANTICON project is a metaphorical action inspired by the image of the Last Supper, which is transformed into a fashion initiation. It is a deep aesthetic and philosophical conversation about freedom, spirituality, corporeality and the search for a home - in the world and in oneself. Unique multifunctional transformers, created by Ukrainian craftsmen during the war, embody survival strategies and ethical fashion at the same time.
The author of the brand, Irina Dzhus, not only rethinks clothing as an object of art, but also weaves her texts into the performance - poetic, personal, multilingual. The soundtrack was created by a composer from Kharkiv, Genadii Belyaev.
MOFO COLLECTIVE
Fashion Performance 23.8.2025 18:30 BASEMENT
“Into the Abyss” Performance and Fashion Show by the MOFO collective.
Sacrifice is the order of The Abyss. Faceless heroes, predators, and even the Big She — everyone in these sombre landscapes has a unique destiny. Do you sacrifice yourself to die again, to never be reborn, or do you sacrifice yourself for the sake of sacrifice?
A dark and demonic love affair with the Beyond is awaiting you in the performance “Into The Abyss” by the MOFO collective. Including a performative fashion show by Sasha Malyuk, who presents a brand-new collection of pieces she created in reflections on her own body dysmorphia, and a live music program “Volcanic Sand” by Boji Ro that fuses spoken word, live scream vocals, electric ukulele, and raw, physical sound elements, such as an electric drill and woodcutter.
Sasha Malyuk is a queer artist who, through the body and textiles, explores marginality, refugeehood and intimate independence.
Boji Ro is a performance artist whose work transforms the pain of war into bodily symbols of endurance and self-assembly.
VOLIA UpMarket
Curated by Vika Temnova
23.8.2025 BASEMENT
The VOLIA UpMarket is more than a simple selling place. Carefully curated by the Ukrainian Stylist and Photographer Vika Temnova, it features more than 15 brands that rethink fashion through an ethical approach and personal stories. Each item is not just an object, but a textile memory of home, loss, transformation, and hope.
VOLIA UpMarket a symbol of modern Ukrainian reality, where creativity becomes a response to war, loss, and uncertainty. Ukrainian brands who work with the reuse of clothing present their products as a manifesto of sustainability, creativity, and cultural resistance.
presented brands: M1R, FLO, Anya Siryk, The Blub, GOOSKA, deep, SAPO, ECSH, ALINA OLIVE, moon elf clothes, POGLYAD
VOLIA STAGE PROGRAMME
FAUST´S LESSON
22.8.2025 20:00 THEATRE
Faust’s Lesson is a solo performance by the Ukrainian multidisciplinary artist Evhen Bal based on the work of Johann Wolfgang Goethe. Evhen Bal approaches the monumental play from his very individual perspective, working in his personal life-changing experience of reading Faust as a teenager and telling the story of Faust's various incarnations: as a real person, a historic legend, a character of Goethe´s work – and of Goethe himself. The timeless story of thirst for knowledge and the devil's pact to gain it gets a fresh, original interpretation by Evhen, enriched by the actor’s ironic commentary.
With minimalistic means—a moustache, a wig, lipstick— and some simple, self-constructed props Evhen brings the dozens of roles of the play into being, all skillfully embodied by himself.
The audience not only encounters the narrative and the historical origins of the story of Faust, but is also invited on an imaginative journey through time and space. Duration 2h 30 min (with intermission)
Concept and performance: Evhen Bal
23.8. 20:00 THEATRE
KOMA is the solo project of Ukrainian drummer and music producer Alona Kovalenko. Her live show combines electronic soundscapes with live drumming, creating a balance between ambient, experimental and rhythmic music. The performance is supported by atmospheric visuals, making the experience immersive and emotionally engaging.
23.8. 21:00 THEATRE
Solo project of Ukrainian singer/sound producer and DJ Alina Volkova.
Nina Eba's sound is a fusion of alternative R&B and art-pop, incorporating elements of fast bass music, hyper-pop, and experimental genres. Such a blend was formed through 5 years of DJing practice, during which she became fascinated with experimental and non-conformist dance music. She collaborated with New Zealand label The Big Fresh Collective on EP Ukraine Immortal where she and sound producers Liam K. Swiggs and Bomb Dylan combined Ninas soft vox with breaks.
AQUATORIA
DANCE PERFORMANCE
23.8. 17:30 THEATRE
The interdisciplinary artist and Butoh dancer Lea Moon interacts in “Vichna” with an audiovisual installation, filling the space with sound and movement. The performer interacts with space through Butoh dance, often merging with the visual part. With the help of instruments and voice, noise is created that represents the musiсal poetry.
DJ-Set
23.8. 22:30 GLASS HOUSE
The Ukrainian DJ Anna Kasyan started her career in 2011 and developed her craft 2019 into a professional activity. Since then, Anna played her DJ-Sets in numerous cities across Ukraine and Germany. Anna is co-founder of the recording studio @selectionroom in Kyiv, partner of various artistic duets and organizes her own music events. Her signature sound is both uplifting and hypnotic.
COMEDY
23.8. 18:00 GALLERY
YESTANDUP
DISCUSSION
In the frame of the ВОЛЯ I VOLIA Festival we will invite to an open discussion about the meaning, the different dimensions and potential individual implications of the word independence. The discussion will be held in a fishbowl format, allowing all listeners to join the debate as equal participants. The discussion will take place on 23.8. in the art gallery of Hotel Continental and will be moderated.
