Borscht, a quest game, and an attentive exploration

The third day of the extended Opening Weekend of the 2026 Biennale Matter of Art will take the visitors to the Tusculum studio and residency center. The program on Saturday, June 13, will include a participatory happening by the Ukrainian collective GALAS comprising a quest game, common cooking, and more. A workshop with the interdisciplinary group StonyTellers will run concurrently with the GALAS' happening, focused on slow, self-aware exploration of the lush premises of the arts center. The program will continue with an opening ceremony with food, music, and poetry, and, to conclude, a DJ set by Zoi Michailová. Below you will find information about the program. Both the workshop and the happening have a limited capacity. Read below to booking your spot.

Playing, cooking, and being together as tools of cultural resistance. The program of the biennale's opening at Tusculum starts at 1 p.m. with How to Galas, a participatory event organized by the Warsaw-based GALAS Collective, which is composed primarily of Ukrainian artists. The happening takes the form of a collective quest game where stories are the currency of collaboration. As participants share stories, a communal meal will gradually come together.

In addition to the game and cooking, hosted by Vladyslav Gryn and Taras Gembik, the event includes a poetry reading with live music by Zoi Michailova, followed by a DJ set. How to Galas uses play and shared work as artistic tools, inviting strangers to collaborate, exchange memories, and form a temporary community.

The interdisciplinary collective StonyTellers will bring participants to the garden of Tusculum as part of their workshop titled Who is talking in the garden?, which begins at 2 p.m. Through a collaborative exploration of the site from less conventional perspectives, participants will learn to understand the presence of diverse actors in the environment—human or nonhuman (a plant, a place, an object, a scent, etc.). Through deep listening, observation, and attentive exploration, collective statements drawn from the needs, relationships, and dynamics between the diverse actors will unfold.

The final sharing session will open up new ways of interpreting the site and provide inspiration for its long-term vision based on principles of care that challenge the established relationships and hierarchies between humans and nature. Rather than putting emphasis on acting, this workshop builds on attention to the environment, language, and collective reflection.

The opening ceremony at 4 p.m. will introduce the new vegetable garden that is part of Tusculum’s outdoor premises, created by StonyTellers as part of their project In the Garden. Visitors will be able to purchase refreshments prepared collectively. The proceeds will go to aid Ukraine.

The program will continue with a poetry reading by Taras Gembik, accompanied by music by Ukrainian sound artist and composer Zoi Michailova, who will then close the afternoon with a DJ set.