What Practices for What Peace?
A conversation with Vasyl Cherepanyn, Mahmoud M. Al-Shaer, and Skye Arundhati Thomas

23 May 2026 | 19:00 – 20:00

 

In the context of Pedagogies of War, an exhibition by Ukrainian artists Roman Khimei and Yarema Malashchuk, the Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza and TBA21 Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary present a day of events reflecting on the role of cultural practices in times of conflict. 

 

What Practices for What Peace? brings together Vasyl Cherepanyn, Mahmoud M. Al-Shaer, and Skye Arundhati Thomas for a conversation on the cultural and artistic practices emerging in the midst of ongoing international conflict. Moving across curatorial, literary, and artistic perspectives, the discussion explores how cultural work can respond to violence, sustain forms of resistance, and contribute to imagining conditions for liberation.

 

The activity is organised in collaboration with Red TEJA.

 

PARTICIPANTS

Vasyl Cherepanyn is curator of the 14th Berlin Biennale for Contemporary Art, opening June 2027. He is co-founder and head of the Visual Culture Research Center (VCRC), which organises the Kyiv Biennial and is a founding member of the East Europe Biennial Alliance. Alongside his curatorial work, he has lectured widely across Europe, and he holds a PhD in philosophy.
 

Mahmoud M. Al-Shaer is a Palestinian writer, poet, and cultural organiser from Rafah. Editor-in-chief of 28 Magazine and founder of 28 Gallery, he works across literary and visual practices to explore memory, collaboration, and cultural resistance. He has coordinated projects with institutions including the Goethe-Institut and the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation, co-curated the New Alphabet School at HKW Berlin, and presented work at the 12th Berlin Biennial. His recent book “I Am Still Alive: Dispatches from Gaza” (K. Verlag, 2025) reflects on writing as an existential and political act under siege.
 

Skye Arundhati Thomas is a writer, editor, and curator from India. She is Associate Curator at TBA21 and editor of Palestine is everywhere and its digital platform (palestineiseverywhere.tba21.org/). Her books include: Pleasure Gardens: Blackouts and the Logic of Crisis in Kashmir (with Izabella Scott) (MACK); Lalitha Lajmi (Sternberg Press); Remember the Details (Floating Opera Press).

 

ACCESS

Tickets will be available starting May 19 at this link.

 

LANGUAGE

Conversation in English with simultaneous translation into Spanish.