Lean Art Foundation

Lean Art Foundation (LAF) is an independent art organization dedicated to shaping public understanding of Ukrainian cultural heritage and contemporary artistic practices.

The Foundation’s activities are focused on the preservation and promotion of Ukrainian twentieth-century art and on supporting the contemporary cultural voice of Ukraine.

The Foundation’s work is concentrated on the following key areas:● Boychukism● Nonconformist art of the 1960s–1980s● Contemporary artistic practices shaped by wartime conditions.

The mission of the Foundation is to ensure that the historical memory of Ukraine’s culture of resistance and its artistic expressions achieve the recognition and visibility they deserve.

Lean Art Foundation funds artistic research, projects, exhibitions, and educational programs, fostering creativity and cultural dialogue by engaging both with the cultural legacy of the past and with the documentation of contemporary cultural processes unfolding during the war.

Vision

Lean Art Foundation envisions Ukraine as a country in which the artistic heritage of the twentieth century and contemporary cultural practices are preserved, researched, and accessible to society, and in which Ukrainian art is fully integrated into the global cultural context.

The Foundation seeks to serve as an authoritative public platform that fosters a profound understanding of Ukrainian art as part of a history of resistance, identity, and contemporary cultural dialogue.

Objectives

● To ensure the systematic research, preservation, and critical interpretation of Ukrainian twentieth-century art, in particular Boychukism and nonconformist art, within a broader historical and cultural context.
● To develop open educational and digital platforms that make knowledge of Ukrainian art accessible to a wide audience in Ukraine and internationally. ● To support contemporary artists, researchers, curators, and authors working with themes of war, memory, identity, and social transformation. ● To foster the development of professional cultural dialogue and critical engagement with Ukrainian art.

Explore the Collection Contact Us

Ukrainian art is an important part of the world’s cultural heritage. Our task is to identify and highlight its unique features and to appreciate the diversity of our cultural legacy. We aim to illuminate the historical depth of the resilience of Ukrainian artists, who serve as an example of hope and cultural pride for us and for art enthusiasts around the world.

Boychukists

An artistic school of Ukrainian modernism, destroyed by the Soviet regime and being reconstructed today through research and archival work.

Boychukists

Nonconformists

Artists who worked outside the official Soviet system, shaping an alternative trajectory in the development of Ukrainian art.

Nonconformists

Open Collection

A selection of contemporary and historical works reflecting the continuity of the Ukrainian cultural tradition and its contemporary context.

Open Collection

By text

Created by: Olha Shtein, in collaboration with Lean Art Foundation

Project Launch Presentation:
October 29, 2024

Location: Kyiv, National Parliamentary Library of Ukraine

By Text is a platform that supports the development of critical writing on contemporary Ukrainian art. We see the platform’s value in its ability to decentralize and foster public dialogue within the art community. The project aims to collect and publish unique materials featuring interpretations, reflections, analysis, and evaluations of current cultural trends.

Go to By text

Online Museum of BOICHUKISM

Created by: Lean Art Foundation

Project Launch Presentation: October 30, 2026

The Online Museum of Boichukism is a modern digital archive that brings together extensive biographical research and the artistic heritage of the Boichukist artists. The project is designed for a wide audience — Ukrainians, scholars, and researchers — to foster growing interest in national cultural heritage, strengthen the foundations of Ukrainian identity, and affirm the cultural distinctiveness of Ukraine.

Go to boychukists.com

Serhii KomberianovHead of Programs

Head of cultural and research projects focused on the promotion of Ukrainian twentieth-century art. Oversees the strategic development of initiatives and international collaboration.

Tetiana Avramenko Chief Operating Officer

Coordinates the Foundation’s day-to-day team operations and operational processes, ensuring planning, prioritization, and the timely delivery of Lean Art Foundation projects within established timelines.

Valeriia Advena Accountant

Responsible for the financial accounting and reporting of all projects, ensuring transparency of financial processes and compliance with regulatory requirements.

Alina Minkova Content & Communications Manager

Responsible for Lean Art Foundation’s content and public communications, working with texts, digital platforms, and social media to develop clear narratives about the Foundation’s projects and Ukrainian artistic heritage.

Oleksandra Stepashko Product Owner

Yaroslav Kravchenko Art Historian, member of the National Union of Artists of Ukraine

Galyna Mochulska Designer

Nadiia Goncharenko Literary Editor, Historian, Senior Research Fellow at the Institute of Cultural Studies, National Academy of Arts of Ukraine

Olha Klymenko Tester, Content Manager

Bohdan Korniienko Developer

Stefaniia Andrusiak Art Historian

Olha Shtein Project Initiator, Artist, Curator, Founder of the artist-run space thesteinstudio, Host of the podcast Hi, it’s me, Stein

Kateryna Khimei Text Editor

Ivanna Kozachenko Text Editor

Bohdan Korniienko Developer

Halyna Verheles Designer

10+

Delivered over 10 cultural and research projects

Created and maintain two actively operating online platforms

100+

Published over 100 analytical and curatorial materials

50 000+

Reached an audience of over 50,000 readers and online visitors

40+

Engaged over 40 authors, researchers, artists, and curators

Collaborate with 5 institutional and independent partners

NGO “Lean Institute Ukraine”

The public organization “Lean Institute Ukraine” is one of the key institutional partners of Lean Art Foundation and provides consistent support for the Foundation’s activities.
The partnership includes project support and development, expert assistance for cultural initiatives, and the implementation of sustainable management approaches within the Foundation’s operations.

Boychuk Academy (Kyiv)

In collaboration with the Mykhailo Boychuk Academy, Lean Art Foundation works with educational and archival materials that form the foundation for research into the legacy of Boychukist artists. The partnership contributes to deeper scholarly analysis, the recontextualization of the Boychuk School’s creative output, and its integration into contemporary educational and cultural contexts.

NC “Ukrainian House”

Lean Art Foundation collaborates with the National Center “Ukrainian House” within the framework of national exhibition initiatives. The Foundation was represented in the exhibition Hryvnia. More Than Money by a rare edition from a private collection — Poems by Ivan Manzhura (1918). As an institutional partner of the exhibition ProZori, dedicated to Kyiv-based visionary artists, LAF supported the public interpretation of Ukrainian artistic heritage.

NAFAA

The presentation of the online platform boychukists.com took place at the National Academy of Fine Arts and Architecture. The collaboration with NAFAA carries particular historical and symbolic significance: the Academy was co-founded by Mykhailo Boychuk; it was here that he taught and worked, and it was within the Academy’s studios that the Boychukist milieu was formed.

Cherkasy Art Museum

Within the framework of this collaboration, Lean Art Foundation is implementing a project to digitize works from the collections of the Cherkasy Art Museum, including works by Boychukist artists Oksana Pavlenko and Hryhorii Dovzhenko. The digital archive comprises examples of easel painting and graphic works—portraits, genre scenes, and depictions of rural life—that represent the development of the Ukrainian monumental-synthetic style formed within the circle of Mykhailo Boychuk’s school.

Charter

Strategy

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Address

3 Dorohovytska St., Kyiv, Ukraine, 04112

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