OPEN CALL: CLOUD STORAGE
M17 CAC traditionally participates in the “New Directions” platform initiative and joins the announcement of an Open Call for artists to take part in the new large-scale, inter-institutional project, “Cloud Storage.”
Artists working with themes of memory, heritage preservation, reflecting on loss, and recovery are invited to participate in this Open Call. We welcome submissions in any medium, including painting, sculpture, video, photography, performance, installation, sound, digital art, and more.
Application Deadline: January 20, 2026
The project will be showcased across three major institutions:
– Modern Art Research Institute (MARI): late February 2026
– M17 Contemporary Art Center (M17 CAC): early March 2026
– National Academy of Arts of Ukraine (NAAU): middle of March 2026
Curators of the Project: Andrii Sydorenko, Iryna Yatsyk
The legend of the Library of Alexandria, where the most precious works of ancient philosophers were lost to flame, taught humanity a simple truth: one should not build a single perfect library, but thousands, scattered across the world. Today, as a new wave of barbarism sweeps across nations, this strategy remains no less urgent. Yet it is not only repositories of knowledge that are under threat, but ordinary people — the living bearers of culture.
Archives can be digitized, but collective memory cannot yet be fully uploaded to the cloud. For collective memory is not merely information; it is the lens through which we perceive our past, the framework that determines what we hold to be true, and what we dismiss as false.
Today, in a time of war, a new chapter is being written in Ukraine — not only in its history, but in its collective memory. Its most precious substance is the shared experience of enduring and overcoming hardship. This memory cannot be shattered by missiles or drones, for it is not confined to a single trench or shelter. It lives wherever people remember who brought war to our land, and at what cost our freedom is won.
“Cloud Storage” is an invitation to reflect on:
- Art as a tool for understanding the past
- The asynchronous nature of history and collective memory
- The fragility of cultural heritage
- War as a factor shaping a new collective memory
- The limits of digitalization and the impossibility of “uploading” human experience to the cloud.
“Our previous joint projects with the ‘New Directions’ platform — the exhibitions ‘Concentration of the Will’ (2023) and ‘Resilience Formula’ (2024) — proved to be a truly successful experience. They not only raised important, profound questions but also attracted a significant number of visitors, which is the best evidence of their public resonance.” – Nataliia Shpytkovska, Director of M17 CAC
“The project opens a space for interpretation, where the cloud archive becomes a metaphor for a living system. This year, the focus turns to exploring the multilayered collective memory of Ukrainian culture as a dynamic network of interwoven symbols, practices, and recollections.” — Iryna Yatsyk, curator
“If archives can be digitized, collective memory cannot yet be entirely uploaded to the cloud. Collective memory is not just about information, but about how we perceive our past… It is not localized in one trench or bunker. It is everywhere people remember who came to us with war, and the price we pay for freedom.” — Andrii Sydorenko, curator
All types of media are welcome to participate in the project. Application form
Application Deadline: January 20, 2026
Announcement of results – early February 2026
For additional questions: ipsmproject/@/gmail/./com
Organised by M17 Contemporary Art Center, the National Academy of Arts of Ukraine, Modern Art Research Institute.
M17 Contemporary Art Center is a cultural institution that functions as an educational and research platform, an exhibition venue for Ukrainian and foreign contemporary art. The activities of the Center are aimed at creating a dialogue space for professional circles and all the representatives of the culture sector as a whole, at study and research of contemporary and related historical cultural processes. M17 supports art experiments, collaborations and international exchanges of experts, artists from various art fields, in order to integrate Ukrainian art into the world context.
The National Academy of Arts of Ukraine (NAAU) is a self-administered scientific institution that promotes the preservation and continuation of traditions in the field of art, art history and cultural studies, as well as support for art education and the scientific community of Ukraine. The Academy leads educational and research institutions.
Modern Art Research Institute of the NAA of Ukraine (MARI of the NAAU) is the only research institution in Ukraine that carries out fundamental scientific research in various fields of contemporary art, as well as practical and research studies, aimed at the formation of professional contemporary art and architecture, implementation of new art technologies and practices, the further formation of national culture, preparation and publication of monographs, collections of scientific papers on the main scientific directions of the Institute.