On August 29 — September 7, 2025, at the Mystetskyi Arsenal (10-12 Lavrska St., Kyiv) as part of the international festival Network Eastern European Design (NEED), for the first time in Ukraine a landmark event for the professional community and all connoisseurs of visual culture will take place — the Festival of Illustration and Design PIC Conference
Ukrainian and international speakers will explore how visual images shape our stories, spaces and identity. The focus is on illustration, animation, graphic design and book art.
Organizers and curators of design events, leaders of the local and international scenes, illustrators and designers of various directions, as well as everyone who is interested in modern illustration and design culture in general are invited to participate in the event.
What to expect from the PIC Conference?
From August 29 to September 7, 2025, the International Art Exhibition will be held at the Mystetskyi Arsenal. Visitors will get acquainted with the works of artists, participants of leading European festivals and art organizations. The exhibition will include selections of illustrations, posters, animations, installations, book designs, and more.
Among the exhibition participants: Pictoplasma (Germany), LUSTR and “The Best Czech Book” (Czech Republic), Pictoric (Ukraine), a Collective exhibition of conference speakers (Germany, Portugal, Poland, Ukraine, Spain, Czech Republic), Graphic Matters (Netherlands), Collections of the best book design, etc. The exhibition will open on August 29 at 6:00 PM.
- August 30, 2025 at 10 AM — the main event of the PIC Conference: a conference to which representatives of the illustration and design communities, as well as everyone who shares an interest in visual communication, are invited.
The program includes: speeches, panel discussions and presentations by professionals in the fields of illustration, book design, graphics and animation.
REGISTRATION FORM PIC CONFERENCE
Conference participants: Jesús Cisneros, artist, illustrator (Spain), Ana Margarida Matos, artist, writer and comic book author (Portugal), Barbora Müllerová, illustrator, book designer (Czech Republic), Stephan Dybus, illustrator and animator (Germany), Zosia Dziejzębska, illustrator and comic book artist (Poland), Tanya Yakunova, illustrator, artist and teacher (Ukraine).
The conference will also be attended by the winners and participants of the annual competition “Best Book Design”, founded in 2016 by the International Book Arsenal Festival in cooperation with the Goethe-Institut in Ukraine with the support of the Frankfurt Book Fair and the Buchkunst Foundation.
- On August 31, 2025, at 11 AM, networking of professional communities will start.
The program includes: professional meetings, exchange of experience, presentations, reports, workshops, portfolio reviews, seminars between Ukrainian and international professional communities of creative industries.
- On September 6-7, 2025, at 11 AM, professional networking for Ukrainian creative institutions and specialists from different regions of Ukraine will take place in the Mystetsky Arsenal.
The program includes: speeches and master classes, presentations, and discussions of current practices in the visual design field.
How to get to the events? Participation in the international conference PIC Conference, which will take place on August 30, 2025, is free of charge, subject to prior registration.
Access to other festival events is possible with an entrance ticket to the exhibition “Kherson. The Steppe Holds”, which is ongoing at the Mystetskyi Arsenal. Tickets can be purchased at the box office or online.
Detailed information about the events and schedule will be announced soon.
Organizers: Pictoric, PGD (Polish Graphic Design), 6 pt, Mystetskyi Arsenal
Partners and cooperation: Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, Polish Institute in Kyiv, Goethe Institute in Ukraine, Book Arsenal, Kuš!, NAFAA, Postmen.
This project is made possible thanks to the financial support of the Creative Europe program of the European Union.
Network Eastern European Design (NEED) is a network that connects festivals, conferences, workshops, competitions, and other events related to visual design in Central, Eastern, Southeastern, and Western Europe.
The goal of the platform is to build a network and integrate design events, such as festivals and conferences, that take place in Europe.
NEED presents the history and contemporary design from Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe, which are often overlooked and underestimated in the international design scene.