Lesia Topolnyk: Thresholds of Ideologies

Our world is a collision of social, ecological, chemical, political, and virtual realms, each inscribing its presence onto the landscape. In her exhibition Thresholds of Ideologies, Lesia Topolnyk presents a new work inspired by juxtapositions arising from her explorations of seemingly unconnected sites where global forces intersect. She reflects on her projects in Ukraine, Morocco, New York, and Ghana, while also engaging with planetary dreams and ideologies such as Atlantropa’s plan to reshape the Mediterranean, Russian Cosmism’s radical visions, and today’s techno-feudal obsession with simulating the human brain. The exhibition seeks to forge improbable alliances between conditions above and below ground that might otherwise remain isolated, while also creating grounds for unforeseen dialogues between past, present, and future.

Specific sites anchor these explorations: Governors Island, long an extension of New York’s power, becomes governing itself—reversing histories of colonialism and capitalism; Morocco, where solar megaprojects like NOOR echo Atlantropa’s dream of channeling African energy to Europe, revealing hidden legacies of green colonialism and ecological strain; Ghana, where ongoing resource extraction and the influx of European e-waste highlight cycles of economic dependence and environmental injustice; and Ukraine, where conflict-shaped landscapes expose the fragile and often violent entanglement of belief, infrastructure, resources, and territory.

In the exhibition, these site-specific explorations are fused with world ideologies and planetary visions, and transformed into a spatial narrative. These ideas are not presented as linear arguments but embodied through symbolic elements, spatial structures, and uncanny games. The exhibition space unfolds as a surreal architecture of portals, each door leading to a fragment of ideology, imagination or reality: the Control Room of Desire, the Waiting Room for Resurrection, and the Gambling Hall, each inviting visitors to engage, reflect, and reimagine the possibilities of power, desire, and imagination.

Lesia Topolnyk creates works in resonance with places, working with locally found materials and letting objects guide each creation. For Vienna, she drew inspiration from the city’s history of serious play, symbolism, and layered narratives. Using materials from dismantled Austrian houses and structures, she connects the personal with the societal. For this exhibition, Topolnyk collaborates with materialnomaden, who provided materials sourced from Vienna’s built environment. Their contribution anchors the work in the city’s cycles of demolition and renewal, extending the exhibition’s themes into the tangible matter of Vienna itself.

LESIA TOPOLNYK / Studio Space Station
Lesia Topolnyk is a Dutch-Ukrainian architect, artist, researcher, and film director based in the Netherlands, working internationally. Raised in Ukraine’s shifting political landscape and educated as an architect, she investigates how invisible forces shape human behavior and manifest in physical and spatial environments. Her practice spans immersive multimedia installations, visionary projects, and experimental designs, connecting local contexts to global narratives and addressing urgent societal and planetary challenges. Through her practice Studio Space Station, she operates across architecture, art, and politics, fostering dialogue, experimentation, and systemic reflection. Her work has been recognized with numerous Dutch and international awards, including the Prix de Rome.
https://lesiatopolnyk.com/