23 | ruimteCAESUUR | images | Oleg K. / evacuation

Oleg Kharchenko (Kharch Oleg) Ukraine Evacuation a small excerpt from the gigantic war

01/04/’23 – 21/05/’23

FB-chat | 09/03/’23 ( … ) Hans, it seems to us that the situation is worsening again.

Another blackout/power cut and we heard the sounds of explosions.

It is not yet known what it was.

There is also mobile Internet. But it's all shaky.

Please take your time Oleg.

I will try to send from here. There is still no light, 81 rocket in Ukraine.

This is a step Hans, together we go on.

“March 1 we had train tickets and a head full of fear and uncertainty. Our feet led us to walk to the Kiev train station. (…)

Above the border near the village of Radekhiv, Lyuboml district, Volyn region, 16 kilometers from the Polish border and 40 kilometers from the border with Belarus, a security fighter jet flies in the sky.

I felt confused and I asked my son-inlaw to get some paper. They also found a ballpoint pen and some paint and I started drawing something.

It was always easier to watch the sunset after hard work.”

content Opening 01/04/’23 photos opening speech Anna Kokirilenko photos exhibition in ruimteCAESUUR works colophon about ruimteCAESUUR

opening | 01/04/’23 opening speech Anna Kokirilenko photos Joan Krüse

opening | 01/04/’23 opening speech Anna Kokirilenko

I don't think it would be a great secret to say that the true artist has always been the voice of the present and the precursor of the future. Yes, today, in the age of advanced technology and high-speed internet, the world does not need field sketches of what is happening. But no photo can ever replace the precision of composition and the bitter satire of a good artist. I look at Oleg's work and feel Ukraine in it. And I also see how filigree Oleg has chosen the subjects, how masterfully he has put them together and how sparklingly he uses his wonderful humour. This is such a Ukrainian approach to life - to laugh through tears and go for-ward no matter what. And what is more important is the theme that Oleg has chosen to address the world as a true voice for the scary present that is happening right in front of our noses: evacuation.

In this case, I`d like to share a small story, written by Julia Hair Beck. Because, when I suddenly found and read it I felt every painful emotion that was forbid-den for me to feel, as I convinced myself - I am a strong woman, I won`t be crying. But this small story turned me back to my own evacuation with my mother and son, though I don`t remember it in colours, but just like a sick dream.

“The evacuation trains from Kyiv departs crowded, tense, and quiet.

Confused, scared children, nervous animals, exhausted adults. Some are lucky enough to get a seat, the rest just fall to the floor in the passageway and vestibule. Things are minimal, but they take up all the space that is still left. The train leaves the station and almost immediately the lights go out in the cabin.

Directions are whispered from the side of of the door: no phones, no bright.

the door: no phones, no bright lights, no internet, or, God forbid, geo-location.

Everyone obediently turns off the small screens. It`s dark and quiet. The train carefully sneaks between the same dark fields and villages. Somewhere it freezes, somewhere it makes a sharp jerk.

The children begin to be naughty – they want cartoons, to the toilet, a candy bar, a walk. There is nowhere to go; the only way to the toilet is through the air. But everybody understands everything, presses their legs, and tries to let the other people go. Parents try their best to calm their children, but as soon as one end of the carriage slows down, the other one wakes up.

An hour passes, then another. According to the usual schedule, they should have already arrived at Vinnytsia. They say that we won`t be in Vinnytsia earlier than in two hours, and, perhaps, there will be no

in two hours, and, perhaps, there will be no stop. Someone tries to protest, but they are quickly calmed down. Tired children fall asleep. It gets hot and out of breath. And instead of oxygen, there is one fear for all. You want to drink, but you should remember that you can’t get into the toilet.

The lights of Vinnytsia slowly appear ahead. The train passes it without stopping. The next potential stop is Khmelnytskyi but when the arrival is unknown.

The clock is ticking. Children wake up and everything starts in a circle. There are lights ahead. The train slows down; the lights are turned on in the cabin.

Everyone squints and pulls out their phones trying to check the situation.

We arrive at the station. There is an announcement in the salon: parking is 5 minutes minutes. Some people begin to randomly grab things, children, and cats and make their way to the exit.

randomly grab things, children, and cats and make their way to the exit.

They jump out onto the platform, but it doesn`t become freer in the cabin.

Suddenly, a huge checkered bazaar bag is thrown into the vestibule with a running start, followed by two more, and then another one is pulled in by two women. People are starting to grumble, they say, there is no free space to get inside with so huge bags. Someone answers them that maybe there are animals in it, so we have to be patient.

Women don't pay attention. With stingy, apparently already perfected movements, they quickly open the bags and begin to throw some packages into the hands of those who are closer.

Quick, pass on, 3 minutes left!

People obediently pass on. One bag is empty, followed by two more. People in the cabin wake up and try to understand what they are shoved into their hands here.

One of the women shouts

the cabin wake up and try to understand what they are shoved into their hands here.

One of the women shouts loudly into the salon: Do you have small children?

Yes! How many?

About 20.

She opens the last bag, and shakes the packages out of it.

Pass it on to moms!

And through the cabin like a wave: Pass it on to moms, pass it on to moms . . . .

The train is jerking. One of the women quickly grabs the empty bags, the second throws the rest of the bags right on the floor, and both jump out onto the platform.

- Luda, water!

A block of water is thrown into the vestibule on a grand scale, followed by another one. The train starts moving.

People, as if dying, begin to open the packages that were put into their hands

another one. The train starts moving.

People, as if dying, begin to open the packages that were put into their hands.

In each bag: three oatmeal cookies, a little cheese sandwich, a small sandwich with butter and sausage, an apple, two chocolates, and a few candies.

The packages that were handed over to the mothers contained a couple of diapers and three packs of baby food.

The light goes out again. The cabin is quiet, but candy wrappers rustle, and someone asks for water. They say that Ternopil is further, but there may not be a stop.

A dark train sneaks between dark fields and villages.

This is my translation of this text https://vitruvianus9.livejournal.com/2810136.html?fbclid=Iw AR0Zxkg7FnvoN3zNU4zkdYayaXtzyLgdr1AadWhwrYyNI0kcZBJjM7Q0g

Exhibition photos Joan Krüse

works

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colophon | about CAESUUR

teamCAESUUR Willy van Houtum | Jorieke Rottier | Giel Louws | Hans Overvliet exhibition DTP prints | Giel Louws prints / scaling | de Witte Print&Design lay-out - installation | teamCAESUUR 0pening | Anna Kokirilenko

catalogue art work / photos work / texts Kharch Oleg introduction | Anna Kokirilenko photos | Joan Krüse layout | Hans Overvliet

In 2023 ruimteCAESUUR was supported by the happy share holders & ditto friends of CAESUUR the municipality of Middelburg | Family Fund Hurgronje | Frits Lensvelt Foundation Kattendijke / Drucker Foundation | Mondrian Fund We thank the Middelburgse / Veerse Bode for their efforts to help us dearly in our communication with the local people . . .

About CAESUUR Since 1995, some hundred plus exhibitions of contemporary art have been made in ruimteCAESUUR (spaceCAESUUR). From 1999 on at the Lange Noordstraat 67 in Middelburg. Visual arts, in relation with the contemporary art discourse, are always the guiding principle for an exhibition, but a historical and social perspective also determine our choices. ruimteCAESUUR stands for the autonomy of art embedded in larger systems, and puts the artist’s oeuvre at the centre of organizing its (solo) exhibitions.

Young, novice as well as "arrived" artists are offered a platform in order to present their work in a non-commercial environment.

Real meeting and learning from each other play important roles within the annual planning of ruimteCAESUUR. We form a private initiative, without any profit motive, with Willy van Houtum and visual artist Hans Overvliet at its core; they form the board of the CAESUUR foundation. teamCAESUUR is more than completed by the artists Jorieke Rottier and Giel Louws.

The unique composition of this team crosses borders of art practices, gender, and generations.

ruimteCAESUUR | Lange Noordstraat 67 NL-4331 CC Middelburg www.caesuur.nu | caesuur@zeelandnet.nl K.v.K. 4111439 | NL65 RBRB 0787 6747 53

Oleg Kharchenko (Kharch Oleg) Ukraine

Evacuation a small excerpt from the gigantic war