IHME Helsinki 2025: The Forest – Opening

Ukrainian artist Zhanna Kadyrova’s IHME Helsinki Commission 2025, The Forest, opened on Saturday, 23 August 2025 at the Power Plant Museum, Vanhankaupunginkoski Rapids, Helsinki. In The Forest, Kadyrova examines the consequences of the destruction of the Kakhovka Dam by Russia in June 2023, the past and future of the area covered by the reservoir, and nature’s capacity for renewal. As a venue the Power Plant Museum and Vanhankaupunginkoski Dam prompt reflection on these themes in the context of Helsinki.

The Commission has been in the making for two years and has been realized together with partners in Ukraine: the Dovzhenko Centre film archive in Kyiv; the City of Zaporizhzhia; and the Khortytsia Museum. Numerous local people in the Zaporizhzhia region have also helped Kadyrova, for example, in the filming of the forest that has grown where the reservoir was, and in setting up a wooden boat floating in the middle of the forest at what was once the reservoir’s water level. The filming was done 27 kilometres from the front line.

The opening speeches emphasized the importance of art and culture for a nation at war.

Paula Toppila, Executive Director and Curator of IHME Helsinki:

Zhanna has collaborated with numerous people and institutions in Ukraine to make this work possible, and I am constantly impressed by how self-evident it has been – for example, in the Zaporizhzhia region, so close to the frontline – that we should support art and enable artists to make art. I sincerely hope that this artwork can one day be shown to the people of the Zaporizhzhia region.

Mykhailo Vydoinyk, Ambassador of Ukraine to Finland:

This war is more about the attempt to erase everything related to Ukraine—the Ukrainian language and Ukrainian culture. Everything that shows that we are a great nation with a very long history. […] So, it is extremely important that we Ukrainians continue to fight, but at the same time also show our culture, show the rest of the world who we are, and that we are not part of the Russian people or nation. […] Zhanna has approached the subject of the destruction of the Kakhovka Dam from an interesting perspective that even I did not know about. She wanted to dig deeper, beneath the water, and to point out that, when Stalin ordered the construction of the Kakhovka Dam, he also ordered Ukrainian history to be submerged under water.

Artist Zhanna Kadyrova:

When Russian forces destroyed the dam in 2023, it was not the first time that the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union had committed acts of violence in Ukraine. Context plays a very important role in this exhibition. […]  It is very important for me to create a connection to the local story, and since the city of Helsinki has decided to demolish this dam, it became an interesting link to the Kakhovka dam. I wanted to examine two different approaches to the decommissioning of energy infrastructure in parallel. Working in Zaporizhzhia and the support of the city of Zaporizhzhia have inspired me greatly, and I intend to continue working after the opening. This is not a finished project. It is the result of only two years’ work.

Zhanna Kadyrova’s The Forest exhibition is at the Power Plant Museum (Hämeentie 163, Helsinki) until October 2, 2025.

Tue–Fri 15:00–20:00

Sat–Sun 12:00–17:00

Translated with the help of ChatGpt Revised by MG.