“4th Block: Chornobyl” is an international poster triennial founded in 1991 by Ukrainian graphic designer and Chornobyl liquidator Oleh Veklenko, together with his colleagues and other direct witnesses to the disaster. The project takes its name from Reactor No. 4 of the Chornobyl nuclear power plant, which was destroyed in the April 1986 explosion.

Having himself taken part in the liquidation operations, Veklenko made this formative experience the ethical and creative foundation of the project. From the outset, 4th Block has conceived graphic design as both an artistic and civic space—a site of memory and a platform for expression. The posters address nuclear safety, environmental responsibility, alternative energy, as well as the human cost of technological failure.

The issues articulated in 1991 remain just as urgent today. The secrecy and militarization that surrounded the Chornobyl disaster do not belong solely to the past: they persist in Russia’s current attacks on Ukrainian nuclear infrastructure, widely described as forms of nuclear terrorism and environmental warfare. The exhibition thus underscores how imperial violence and ecological negligence are part of recurring historical patterns whose effects continue to unfold.

In 2019, the 4th Block Museum was established within the Kharkiv State Academy of Design and Arts. It now brings together nearly 11,000 posters collected over more than thirty years, forming one of the most significant bodies of socially engaged graphic design in the world.

This 4th Block exhibition is presented by the Ukrainian Club of Montreal, in collaboration with the Goethe-Institut Montreal, with the aim of fostering a dialogue between memory, contemporary creation, and collective responsibility.

The exhibition posters are provided by the 4th Block Graphic Designers Association (Ukraine) and are part of the international poster project dedicated to the 40th anniversary of the Chornobyl disaster.

Participating artists:
Marijana Ivanova-Lazarova (Macedonia), 2026
Byoungil Sun (South Korea), 2026
Mykhailo Tochyn (Ukraine), 2026
A. Lewis (Canada), 2026
Yurko Gutsulyak (Ukraine-Canada), 2026
Agnieszka Srokosz (Poland), 2026
Artur Skowroński (Poland), 2026
Natalia Hudz (Ukraine), 2026
Anna Black (Ukraine), 2026
Daria Lutsyshyna (Ukraine), 2026

The exhibition can be visited during the opening hours of the Goethe-Institut, and the posters are projected on our windows after sunset.