This autumn, Kyiv becomes the stage for a major new Ai Weiwei installation, presented by RIBBON International at Pavilion 13 from September 14th to November 30th, 2025. Titled Three Perfectly Proportioned Spheres and Camouflage Uniforms Painted White, the project marks the artist’s latest large-scale engagement with the themes of war, memory, and collective responsibility.
Ai Weiwei’s installation art: war, peace, and order
The work is described by organizers as a site-specific response to the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine and the wider escalation of armed conflicts across the globe. At its heart, the installation explores the fragile balance between war and peace, rationality and irrationality. Ai Weiwei has noted that art remains one of the few avenues through which humanity can resist authoritarian systems and bureaucratic control.
The monumental sculpture takes the form of three mathematically precise spheres inspired by Leonardo da Vinci’s De Divina Proportione. Each sphere is covered in white-painted camouflage uniforms—stitched together in geometric patterns—creating interconnected forms that resemble a massive bone-like structure. The choice of camouflage fabric, designed using patterns derived from cats rescued by Ai and his team, highlights the often-overlooked suffering of animals in times of war.
By merging Renaissance ideals of rational proportion with symbols of military conflict, the installation reflects on the contradictions of human history and the persistence of violence in modern times.
Installation art and Ukraine’s cultural landscape
Beyond its sculptural presence, Three Perfectly Proportioned Spheres embodies collaboration between Ai Weiwei and Ukrainian artisans—metalworkers, seamstresses, and cultural producers—whose experiences of war shaped the project’s process. Pavilion 13, a Soviet-era exposition hall newly renovated by FORMA and RIBBON International, provides the setting for this ambitious work. Its glass walls, once used to showcase industrial achievement, now serve as a backdrop for questioning what narratives of progress conceal and reveal.
Public program: ‘Addressing the Concealed’
Alongside the installation, Pavilion of Culture will host an extensive public program titled Addressing the Concealed. Running throughout the exhibition, it includes talks, workshops, and panel discussions that expand on the themes of freedom, propaganda, and memory in contemporary society.
In October and November, the program will feature debates on cancel culture, architecture as a form of political memory, and the responsibilities of art criticism. Throughout the exhibition, visitors can also take part in land art workshops on remembrance, developed in collaboration with NGO VETERANKA.
The Kyiv presentation of Three Perfectly Proportioned Spheres and Camouflage Uniforms Painted White positions Ai Weiwei’s installation art at the intersection of history, politics, and human resilience.
Don’t miss our Ai Weiwei interview — a candid exploration of creativity, legacy, and the role of art in shaping the world today.
AI WEIWEI
Three Perfectly Proportioned Spheres and Camouflage Uniforms Painted White, commissioned by RIBBON INTERNATIONAL, 2025
Courtesy of DMYTRO PRUTKIN and RIBBON INTERNATIONAL
