On August 5, at the Romanian Pavilion of EXPO 2025 in Osaka, representatives of the governments of Ukraine and Japan explored the immersive exhibition of contemporary Ukrainian art titled “Home Beyond the Dawn” (Дім за зорею).
Tatiana Berezhna, Acting Minister of Culture and Strategic Communications and Ukraine’s General Commissioner at EXPO 2025, addressed the participants and guests with a welcoming speech.
“Home Beyond the Dawn”, running until August 12, is a 30-minute video installation featuring works from 30 Ukrainian artists. The project was first presented in Mexico and now has the opportunity to introduce itself to an Asian audience at EXPO 2025 in Japan.
“This project is about loss, memory, and hope. It was created in collaboration with Ukrainian and international curators as an act of cultural presence despite the war. Through art, we not only preserve the voice of our country, but we also build a space for dialogue. For me, it is important that at EXPO — a space dedicated to the future of humanity — we talk about ‘home’ as a value that cannot be destroyed. Home is not architecture; it is a place where language, culture, and dignity are preserved. It is what we must protect and pass on,” said Tatiana Berezhna.
The exhibition’s curators — Natalia Matsenko, Yuriy Yefanov, and Clemens Pool — explore the transformation of the concept of “home” in the realities of war. The project is implemented with support from the European Union.
The installation begins with photographs from Lviv, continues in Kherson where visitors see digital reconstructions of the Museum of Contemporary Art and the house of folk artist Polina Rayko, and concludes in temporarily occupied Luhansk — accompanied by the piano composition east piano by composer Timur Jafarov (John Object), written during his service at the front.
The project’s title, “Home Beyond the Dawn,” refers to a poem by Bohdan-Ihor Antonych, a Ukrainian interwar poet whose work was long suppressed by Soviet censorship. In addition to the installation, the program includes panel discussions and interactive workshops revealing the role of culture during times of transformation.
