Zhanna Kadyrova’s IHME Helsinki Commission 2025 opens in August

Ukrainian artist Zhanna Kadyrova’s IHME Helsinki 2025 commission will open to the public on Ukrainian Independence Day, Sunday, 24 August 2025. The Forest – a video installation – will be shown in the Steam Power Plant at the Power Station Museum (Voimalamuseo, Hämeentie 163, Helsinki) for six weeks until 2 October 2025.

In The Forest we see a young forest that stretches out of sight, swaying in the wind. On 6 June 2023, Russia’s attack destroyed the Kakhovka Dam, emptied a vast reservoir covering 2155 square kilometres, and caused immeasurable damage to the nearby environment, villages, and towns. Simultaneously, the area’s precious cultural heritage was destroyed. Within a year, a four-metre-high forest of willows and poplars had grown where the reservoir had been.

In this artwork, Kadyrova reflects on the effects of both “progress” and conflict on life-sustaining systems. She examines the past of the Kakhovka Dam area, and the associated cycle of violence. The Forest encourages us to consider our relationship with the environment, both from an ecological perspective and in terms of post-war material reconstruction. It offers a brief breathing space in a time of conflicts and environmental crisis.

Zhanna Kadyrova (b. 1981), an internationally acclaimed artist, creates site-and-space-specific artworks using media including sculpture, photography, video, and performance. She lives and works in Kyiv and regularly visits warzones to witness the destruction with her own eyes and to meet the people living there. During her visit to Helsinki, Kadyrova got interested in the history and current state of Vanhankaupunginkoski Rapids. For ecological reasons, the City of Helsinki is investigating the possibility of dismantling the dam that holds back the rapids. In March 2025, Kadyrova was awarded the Ukrainian State’s Shevchenko National Prize for visual arts.

IHME Helsinki is a contemporary art commissioning organization that brings together art, science, and climate work. Zhanna Kadyrova’s IHME Helsinki 2025 work will also be shown in Ukraine as a local production for a local audience.