On the nights of August 28 and September 7, large drone and missile attacks struck Ukraine and the capital Kyiv. Despite this pressure and the many challenges, the first large international festival of design and illustration still took place.
FEED is a festival of visual design from Central and Eastern-Southern Europe. The purpose of the event is to present visual culture and integrate the design communities of this region. Admission to the festival is free of charge.
FEED is also about networking and integrating design events, such as festivals and conferences, taking place in the countries of Eastern Europe. A common platform will enable the development of organisations and the search for methods of acting within the times of political, economic and climate crisis.
The festival comprises a public conference, a meeting of organisers of visual design events, a gathering of representatives of the European community, a set of practical workshops and a series of networking sessions.
The exhibition included a selection of illustrations, posters, animations, installations, book designs, etc. and showcased both personal projects from the artists and group projects carefully curated by different organizations and festivals across Europe.
Among the participants of the art exhibition: #CharacterMatters 100 Posters With a Good Cause and Best of Pictoplasma 2025 — Official Selection by Pictoplasma (Germany), Scratchy Lines, Missing Bubbles from LUSTR festival (Czech Republic), Beyond Paper Plane (Czech Republic), The Tempest by Jesús Cisneros (Spain), No one ever comes here by Tania Yakunova (Ukraine), A Love Letter to Future Archaeologists by Barbora Müllerová (Czech Republic), Vera van de Seyp presented by GRAPHIC MATTERS (Netherlands), personal exhibitions of Ana Margarida Matos (Portugal) and Stephan Dybus (Germany).
Speeches and presentations were given by professionals in the field of illustration, books, graphics, animation. Participants of the conference were: Jesús Cisneros, visual artist (Spain), Ana Margarida Matos, artist, writer, and comics author (Portugal), Barbora Müllerová, Illustrator, book designer, and member of the Czech Republic’s Design Academy (Czech Republic), Stephan Dybus, Illustrator and animation artist (Germany), Tania Yakunova, Illustrator, visual artist, and educator (Ukraine).
Meetings, exchange of experience, presentations, reports, workshops took place between professional communities of creative industries. Among the participants were: Svenja Kolly, Michèle Raez, Mia Gujer and Svenja Kolly (Welformat Graphic Design Festival, Lucerne, Switzerland), Alessio Trabacchini (Baba Jaga Fest, Rome, Italy), Gabriele Scorzoni (Industrie Fluviali, Rome, Italy), Ecaterina Corneeva (D-Spirit, Molodova), Susanne Schroeder (Le Signe, France), Robert Aleksić (Fluid Dizajn Forum, Montenegro), Axel Halling (German Comic Association, Germany) etc.
Workshops were held by Jesús Cisneros and Zosia Dzierżawska; portfolio reviews were given by Tania Yakunova, Barbora Müllerová, Stephan Dybus and Anna Gavryliuk; panel discussion “Visual Stories” was moderated by Jenya Polosina.
September 1st, 2025
Meeting with international comic festival organizers was held at the National Academy of Fine Arts and Architecture in Kyiv.
September 6–7th, 2025
AM
Graphic workshops were conducted by National Academy of Fine Arts and Architecture (NAFAA) students, curated tour through the exhibitions was organized.
The event is being held as part of the Network Eastern European Design. The founders of the network are Design-Crit studio, Polish Graphic Design Foundation, Pictoric, 6pt Conference.
This project is made possible thanks to the financial support of the Creative Europe programme of the European Union.
Partners and co-operation: Mystetskyi Arsenal, Book Arsenal, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, Polish Institute in Kyiv, Czech Centers, Goethe Institute, Postman, Kuš!, NAFAA;
Curators: Olena Staranchuk, Anna Sarvira, Oleg Gryshchenko, Rene Wawrzkiewicz;
Cooperation: Agne Dautartaite Krutule, Laurynas Marciulaitis, Marta Kowalska, Jan Diehl Michalowski.;
Illustration: Anna Sarvira, Klaudia Kozińska.
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Photo credits: Nastya Telikova and Andrii Tsykota
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organizers’ press materials
