Ukrainian project with artificial intelligence will be presented at the Venice Architecture Biennale

At the intersection of the physical and the non-physical, Ukrainian art and research project Circularity on the Edge by analyst Kateryna Lopatyuk and developer Herman Mytish unfolds. The installation is part of the official exhibition in the Artificial sector within the curatorial program Space for Ideas, led by architect and futurist Carlo Ratti.

The installation's focal question is whether we will use ruins as a resource for rebuilding Ukraine. The work explores how war-torn cities demonstrate both the loss of memory and its resilience, while destruction becomes archives of our memories and the potential for new constructions.

The installation was a continuation of a project to create an AI-based material recognition model based on the principles of the circular economy - an economic model that involves maximum reuse of resources and minimization of waste.

A project on AI-based failure analysis and material recognition has evolved into a multimedia installation, Circularity on the Edge, which will be presented at the Biennale Architettura 2025 in Venice.

Kateryna Lopatyuk and Herman Mytish trained artificial intelligence to analyze drone photos of damaged and destroyed buildings as a result of the Russian invasion, using the example of Bucha in the Kyiv region.

After analyzing the images, AI segments and classifies materials: concrete, metal, wood, brick, slate, etc. The project aims to create an open database for communities, activists, and donors to better plan the recovery of Ukrainian cities and villages that have been destroyed by Russian aggression. The project is an example of the potential that technological innovations have for the ecological reconstruction of Ukraine.

«For us, Bucha is not just a symbol of destruction, but a place where the material consequences of war become personal stories. The elements of the installation are assembled in the yard of Elena Matveeva, on the site of her destroyed house. It is precisely such locations that become points of contact for exploring reconstruction and the potential for reusing materials.»- says Kateryna Lopatyuk, the author of the installation and the AI project.

Elena Matveeva's house is located at the entrance to Gostomel. It was destroyed by a rocket shortly after construction was completed. Elena currently lives in a temporary shelter built on her plot with the support of volunteers.

«For Olena, each fragment had a deep emotional meaning: here is a brick from the stove that warmed her in the winter, here are medals melted by the fire. Her experience gives us a deeper understanding of the scale of recovery, not only physical but also mental, and the value of materials as carriers of memory of the destruction experienced by Ukrainians across the country.» – comments Kateryna.

Exhibition Circularity on the Edge is just the beginning of a large project that will continue after the Venice Biennale. The authors of the project plan to find new ways to use the materials that became part of the installation. To create new art objects from them or to use them to restore damaged buildings in Ukraine.

The plans also include the development of an AI-based material recognition project that could help architects, ecologists, public organizations, and government institutions develop projects for the scalable and ecological restoration of Ukraine.

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