Emerging from Ukrainian collective Revolutionary Experimental Space (subject to a retrospective of its 2000s conceptual practice at the otherwise evacuated National Art Museum of Ukraine at the start of the year), Kadan’s solo work has become a touchstone of the Ukrainian art scene. ‘I’m interested in the notion of history and art history,’ he told ArtReview. ‘But I live and work in a country where museums are closed or empty… So there is a contradiction between my interests and my reality that I want to explore.’ Kadan was back at NAMU for a solo show in March, his charcoal drawings, sculpture and sound installations looking at Russia’s invasion through a queer and anarchist lens, and will produce a largescale installation in Kyiv later this year, while group shows included Mumok Vienna; MSN, Warsaw; and East Contemporary, Milan. It is Japan, however, that has embraced Kadan most in 2025, building on his participation in the 2024 Echigo-Tsumari Art Triennale, with a permanent installation for the Setouchi Triennale this year, memorialising the country’s historic treatment of leprosy patients.