History of creation

The story of the immersive exhibition “Ukraine – the Land of the Brave” is tightly connected with the other well-known exhibition "Immersive Shevchenko: Soul of Ukraine". 

In 2021 charitable organization “First theatre charitable fund” together with Kostyuk Productions, RockNLight Multimedia and Starvox Entertainment founded Ukrainian-Canadian partnership, the result of which was «Immersive Shevchenko: Soul of Ukraine». The premiere took place the same year on the 30th anniversary of Ukraine's Independence Day in Odesa. The exhibition did not leave anyone indifferent. Reviews of the immersive exhibition dedicated to Shevchenko were highly laudatory.

Then the immersive exhibition moved to Cannes and was held in “Shevchenko hub”. The President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskiy and Olena Zelenska visited its opening. The First Lady said then: “The exhibition is wonderful; I don’t want to leave it. I’d rather live here and stare, and stare, and stare.” The exhibition actually makes an impression on everyone who visits it, because it opens up the amazing and little-known world of Taras Shevchenko as an artist. His paintings seem to come to life, acquire new meanings and at the same time, like his poems, are timeless.

The representatives of Ministry of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine attended the exhibition and on their recommendations ""Immersive Shevchenko: Soul of Ukraine"" was demonstrated in the UAE in Dubai at "Expo - 2020" and became the highlight of the immersive space of the Ukrainian pavilion. We were preparing for the premier in Kyiv, but the war burst out.

In February 2022, russia's full-scale invasion of the territory of Ukraine changed the life of every Ukrainian and made adjustments in all spheres. New priorities have appeared, the main of which is to survive and win this war. There was an understanding that without the support of the world we cannot overcome this influx. Then “"Immersive Shevchenko: Soul of Ukraine"” went to Canada to Toronto, Winnipeg, to the USA to San-Francisco, Los Angeles, Denver, Boston, Chicago, Cleveland, where the funds to help were collected.

In the spring of 2022, our team received a proposal from the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine to create a new immersive exhibition - about the war in Ukraine.

At that time, part of the Ukrainian territories had already been liberated, and the world saw the consequences and all the horror that the "russian peace" carries with it. Photographers, journalists, ordinary citizens film and save testimonies and capture the moments of military actions in the frame, in order to create an evidence base, testimonies against the aggressor.

We had to act, because the modern war is not only dangerous with its lethal weapons, but also with information technology, which is used by the enemy to distort, propagate and cover up lies to cover up their crimes.

During the creation of the immersive exhibition "Ukraine: land of the brave", our curator from the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy was Deputy Minister Anastasia Bondar. Due to this collaboration we received photo and video materials from leading news agencies, photographers, journalists. The project was aimed at being shown outside of Ukraine to consolidate efforts in the struggle and to convey true information about the events in Ukraine.

The work started. About 10,000 photos and videos were viewed to create a 32-minute immersive exhibition. The core content was selected, edited and translated into English with subtitles, the author's musical score was added. Modern Ukrainian specialists in immersive creativity, composers and a team from Ukraine and Canada worked on the project. You can see our defenders, much destruction in Chernihiv and Mariupol, children of war, burials of heroes in the exhibition.

The premiere of the immersive exhibition "Ukraine: land of the brave" took place in the city of Toronto, Canada before the Independence Day of Ukraine in September 2022.
Subsequently, both exhibitions were shown in tandem in Toronto, Winnipeg and Paris, as an example of Ukrainian indomitability, rich cultural heritage and a developed state that creates modern multimedia products at the international level.