SHOW
PROMISE
THIS TOTAL MEDIA SHOW ERASES THE BOUNDARY
BETWEEN REALITY AND IMAGINATION
ARTISTS
NAZAR BILYK _14 / GAZ GROUP (OLEKSII ZOLOTARIOV, VASYL GRUBLIAK)_48 / OLEKSA FURDIJAK _08 / ANATOLII GANKEVYCH_68 / IGOR GUSEV_54 / VLODKO KAUFMAN_32 / ALINA KLEITMAN_44 / ROSTYSLAV KOTERLIN_60 / YULIA KYSIL _52 / ANTON LOGOV_82 / OLEXA MANN_76 / ROMAN MININ_80 / BORIS MIKHAILOV_10 / ROMAN MYKHAILOV_74 / NATSPROM (OLEG TISTOL, MYKOLA MATSENKO)_78 / SERGII PETLIUK_34 / VLADA RALKO_66 / VINNY REUNOV_38 / STEPAN RIABCHENKO_84 / OLEKSANDR ROYTBURD_46 / ANDRII SAGAIDAKOVSKYI _16 / OLEKSII SAI_26 / ROBERT SALLER_20 / YEVGEN SAMBORSKYI_36 / ARSEN SAVADOV_56 / NIKITA SHALENNY_22 / ANDRII SYDORENKO_ 28 / VIKTOR SYDORENKO_40 / SZUPER GALLERY (SUSANNE CLAUSEN, PAVLO KERESTEI)_50 / VASYL TSAGOLOV_62 / OLEG VORONKO_30 / ALINA YAKUBENKO_64 / YURII YEFANOV_70 / GAMLET ZINKOVSKYI_72
CURATORS
OLEKSANDR SOLOVIOV IGOR ABRAMOVYCH
COLLECTIONS ZENKO AFTANAZIV IHOR GORDEEV PAVLO GUDIMOV PETRO MARTYNOV TETIANA TUMASIAN
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SHOW PROMISE Today we observe collapse of any preinstalled orders. Degree of turbulence is constantly increasing as disasters keep happening, territories keep being annexed, countries are being destroyed, the wars start and terror goes on, politics go through a conservative right turn… Many troubling processes that a person cannot explain happen because the world is being submerged into a state of “liquid modernity”. This is the name of one of the latest books by recently deceased philosopher Zygmunt Bauman. It contains a range of metaphors and physical comparisons, which materialize with apparent acceleration. The book proposes an idea of liquidity, blurring and transparency of the world. The world becomes liquid. Liquids can gain any form but lack the capability to keep it. Just like modern world — it is constantly and unpredictably changing, and therefore can be hardly understood or controlled. The pressure of reality on a “melting” mind is colossal. Goals are being blurred as well as the values and norms, they change quickly and kaleidoscopically and for that reason can no longer serve as a basis for people’s rational behaviour — the irrationality reigns. Philosophers also talk about the “big modernity” in the meaning of “Big Time”, where different times co-exist. “This is a hybrid flickering of many timelines and total contemporaneity. And this totalisation is hard to be lived in and felt. And this is what’s malfunctioning now.” This statement by Katie Chukhrov is hard to argue with. But situation’s duality of all this chaos is amplified by the “container of the possibilities”, with some of them not yet uncovered and others already lost. We seemingly found ourselves in
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unusual showroom, a sort of a “waiting room”, where a possibility arises to turn off this flickering and totality, to end this exhausting situation of permanent liquidity and come for the transition of postmodernism and its obsession with a new utopia… We live in hopes and promises. Hope can be deceitful, illusionary and therefore destructive, but can also be a symbol of salvation dragging us out of the abyss and sustaining our will to live even in the darkest times. In the period of total show erasing the boundary between reality and fiction and substituting the meanings of fundamental life categories, among all perturbations the aspiration of a human towards better future stands strong. Instability and fall of established schemes and relationships, pushing the ground from under our feet along with confidence in the coming days open up more space for the immaterial — faith or nihilism, doubts, fears, and expectations. Searching for hints and supports in this ephemeral and changeable space, art turns out to be one of the most reliable and at times needle-sharp instruments despite its subjectivity and even abstraction. Without breaking a straight and clear path, it is still able to sketch a preliminary route and establish landmarks.
Project curators Igor Abramovych, Oleksandr Soloviov
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LVIV PALACE OF ARTS 13/06 — 16/07/2017
MOST OF THE ARTWORKS WERE CREATED ESPECIALLY FOR THE EXHIBITION. THE EXHIBITION CONTAINS PAINTINGS, PHOTOGRAPHY, GRAPHICS, INSTALLATIONS, AND VIDEO ART.
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Oleksa Furdijak 4 sculpture metal, 2017
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Boris Mikhailov Industrial Zone color photography 2011
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From Vovatanya gallery collection
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Nazar Bilyk Scars polymeric materials, sculpture 2017
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Andrii Sagaidakovskyi Room of Laughter rug, oil 2015
Landscape rug, oil 2012
Happy Life rug, oil 2008
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from Pavlo Martynov collection
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Robert Saller Trust mixed media 2017
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Nikita Shalenny Penetration series color photography 2017
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Oleksii Sai The Fallen Corinthian Column metal 2017
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Andrii Sydorenko Game With No Rules video 2016
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Oleg Voronko VowBox lenticular printing 2017
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Vlodko Kaufman Encouraging mixed media 2013 – 2017
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Sergii Petliuk Erasure / Filling video 2012
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Yevgen Samborskyi Untitled sculpture, mixed media 2017
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Vinny Reunov Forbes oil on canvas 2013
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From Zenko Foundation collection
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Viktor Sydorenko Enantiodromia series Sculpture, fiberglass, 2017
Enantiodromia series oil on canvas, 2017
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Alina Kleitman Responsibility: Shame, Fear and Pride video 2017
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Oleksandr Roytburd The Last Selfie oil on canvas 2017
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Oleksii Zolotariov and Vasyl Grubliak
GAZ group /
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Were is Far which is Closer
mixed media 2017
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Susanne Clausen and Pavlo Kerestei
Szuper Gallery /
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Bonobo
multimedia project
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Yulia Kysil Caliber of Death metal, polymers, paint 2017
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Igor Gusev Million Dollars Đžil on canvas 2016
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Arsen Savadov
Commedia dell’arte in Crimea series aluminum, lamination 2012
Commedia dell’arte in Crimea series aluminum, lamination 2012
From Zenko Foundation collection
Plein Air oil on canvas 2015
Gulliver’s Dream oil on canvas 2016
from Igor Gordeev collection 56
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Rostyslav Koterlin Seesaw. 12 Stars mixed media 2016
The Sick Elders and Children mixed media 2016
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Vasyl Tsagolov Insects Base оil on canvas 2012
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Alina Yakubenko Untitled video 2016
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Vlada Ralko Missing Motherland oil on canvas 2016
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Anatolii Gankevych Explosion of Suprematism оil on canvas 2011
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Yurii Yefanov Nigelius video 2017
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Gamlet Zinkovskyi Silence Enhancer hardboard, enamel 2017
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Roman Mykhailov Intermediate Reality Ń ollage 2017
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Olexa Mann Nobody Knew acrylic on canvas, mixed media 2017
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Oleg Tistol & Mykola Matsenko
Natsprom / / O Lovely Maidens, Fall in Love acrylic on canvas 2017
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Roman Minin What Can I Give to You? What Can You Take? metal, glass 2017
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Anton Logov Beehive installation, mixed media 2017
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Stepan Riabchenko Wooden Story digital print 2017
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SHOW PROMISE CURATOR OLEKSANDR SOLOVIOV: TODAY THE WORLD CONSISTS OF THOSE WHO HAVEN’T FINISH PLAYING “WAR AND PEACE” INTERVIEWED BY MARYANA MAKSYMIV Interview published at ©Dyvys.info on June 16, 2017
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IN PALACE OF ARTS, SHOW PROMISE HAS OPENED; THIS IS AN EXHIBITION VIVIDLY PRESENTING A SLICE OF UKRAINIAN CONTEMPORARY ART, ITS SEARCH, INSTABILITY, AND FLUIDITY. AN IMPORTANT ASPECT IS NOT JUST DIFFERENT AGES BUT ALSO VARYING CATEGORIES OF ARTISTS WORKING BOTH IN CONCEPTUAL ART AND BEYOND IT. THE EXHIBITION SHOWCASES BOTH NEW WORKS AND OLDER ONES WHICH WE INTERPRET IN A NEW LIGHT TODAY; THEY STILL HAVEN’T LOST THEIR RELEVANCE AND EVEN SEEM SOMEWHAT PROPHETIC. WE COME ACROSS NUMEROUS HOT TOPICS IN ARTWORKS; AT FIRST GLANCE, THEY CANNOT BE COMBINED IN ONE CONCEPT, BUT THIS SMOOTH FLOW-OVER, DISSONANCES FROM SILENCE TO SCREAMS, FROM FUN TO WAR, THE OPPOSITION OF ORDER AND CHAOS ARE ALL FIRMLY PRESENT IN OUR REALITY. OLEKSANDR SOLOVIOV, ONE OF SHOW PROMISE CURATORS, TOLD US ABOUT THE EXHIBITION AND ITS CONCEPTUAL BASIS.
Maryana Maksymiv: How did you form this exhibition and select artists? Oleksandr Soloviov: To some extent, though the founding concept is “liquid modernity,” a term coined by Zygmunt Bauman, a well-known Polish sociologist and philosopher. He invented this term in 2011; this notion is a metapor of lost world order, everything flowing over. The liquid can be given a form, but this form cannot be preserved. This is the state we are now in… In Ukrainian, this term has been interpreted as “fluid reality.” We (Igor Abramovych, Oleksandr Soloviov) thought that it is very characteristic of today. On the one hand, this means a state of increased turbulence; on the other, the term by this philosopher sounds like a “container of opportunities,” both those yet to arrive
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and those already lost, paradoxical as it may seem. We live by hopes and promises. Hope can be deceitful and illusionary, and therefore destructive. At the same time, it can be a symbol of salvation dragging us out of the abyss and sustaining the will to live even in the darkest times. Art does not make promises like politicians do, but it can provide some landmarks, putting a diagnosis at the same time. This is what our concept is about. Our method of selecting works was to represent the whole of Ukraine. There are artists from almost all our regions: Lviv, Kharkiv, Odesa, Kyiv, Ivano-Frankivsk, Uzhgorod, and many others. The ages of artists also differ: there are both younger and more mature ones. Viktor Sydorenko, Arsen Savadov, Pavlo Kerestey belong to the older generation; the youngsters include Stepan Riabchenko and Yulia Kysil; the latter produced an installation with shells from the ATO under the title “Caliber of Death”. This is a ready-made death tool the artist can use in a sharply symbolic form. From the point of technologies and genres, there is everything here – from video projections of collages and documentation of performances to classic paintings. There are lots of works in this exhibition, which have this state of destruction present in this or that form. Even “Insects Base” by Vasyl Tsagolov (2012) chimes with “terrorist base” of today. Or, for example, “Gulliver’s Dream” by Arsen Savadov is also relevant now. These works are more on the allegoric side, but there are others containing very straightforward images and statements about hot topics, and they aim very well. M.M: If we compare it with the previous exhibition in these halls, I mean “The Carpet,” we can say that the war theme is now being actively integrated into the artists’ works… O.S: Here we have a whole room dedicated to this topic.
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And the artists interpret it in different ways. There is “Caliber of Death” and at the same time video art by Andrii Sydorenko where children play with military machinery in Kyiv Victory Park. For them, it is just fun, but for others the same objects are weapons. Unfortunately, now the world consists of those who haven’t finished playing “war and peace” — everyone is bound by the same chain, and this is a tragedy. When the country is in a state of war, such things become habitual. There are lots of things we call “hybrid war,” and this is exactly what “liquid modernity” is, I mean this “hybrid twinkling,” flow-over, a complex image. Everything is based on collages where incompatible elements are put next to each other… In this sense, the exhibition showcases the moods and reflections on the one hand and a particular state on the other… Last year we had “The Carpet” in just one hall, and this time it is a micro-biennale of contemporary art. We did not have a task to gather everyone but aspired for showing the state of Ukrainian contemporary art as such. It is also fluid to some extent, so we wanted to concentrate on the fluidity of different aspects. M.M: Can you make a forecast about the future of Ukrainian art in the state of war? History knows different art trends emerging in opposition to the war or as a reflection about it — in particular, expressionism… Can something similar happen in Ukrainian art? O.S: There was also Dadaism, born as a consequence of World War I. Naturally, the artists cannot stay on the sidelines. All these events influence them — indirectly, in context, in some complicated subtext — and the war enters our minds.
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Igor Abramovych the project co-curator summarizes the concept: We live in hopes and promises. Hope can be deceitful, illusionary and therefore destructive, but can also be a symbol of salvation dragging us out of the abyss and sustaining our will to live even in the darkest times. In the period of total show erasing the boundary between reality and fiction and substituting the meanings of fundamental life categories, among all perturbations the aspiration of a human towards better future stands strong. Instability and fall of established schemes and relationships, pushing the ground from under our feet along with confidence in the coming days open up more space for the immaterial — faith or nihilism, doubts, fears, and expectations. Searching for hints and supports in this ephemeral and changeable space, art turns out to be one of the most reliable and at times needle-sharp instruments despite its subjectivity and even abstraction. Without breaking a straight and clear path, it is still able to sketch a preliminary route and establish landmarks.
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Curators
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OLEKSANDR SOLOVIOV
Curator, art critic. Curator of the Mystetskyi Arsenal National Culture, Arts and Museum Complex, Kyiv since 2010. Curator of the PinchukArtCentre, Kyiv in 2006-2010. Co-works with Zenko Foundation since 2015. Selected projects: 2010 ART KYIV Contemporary, Mystetskyi Arsenal, Kyiv, project curator. 2011 “Independent. Ukrainian Art 1991-2011”, Mystetskyi Arsenal, Kyiv, project curator. 2012 “Double Game”, a special project of the First Kyiv Biennale of Contemporary Art ARSENALE 2012, Mystetskyi Arsenal, Kyiv, project curator. 2013 “Monument to the Monument”, Ukrainian Pavilion at the 55th Biennale, Venice, project curator. 2014 “New Ukrainian Dream”, Mystetskyi Arsenal, Kyiv; “The Show within the Show”, Mystetskyi Arsenal, Kyiv, project curator; “Premonition: Ukrainian Art Now”, Saatchi Gallery, London, project co-curator. 2015 “Museum collection. Ukrainian contemporary art from 1985 to 2015. From private collections”, Mystetskyi Arsenal, Kyiv, project co-curator; “Dialogia”, Mystetskyi Arsenal, Kyiv. 2016 “Horizon of Events”, Mystetskyi Arsenal, Kyiv. 2017 “Reality of Illusion. Oleksandr Gnylytsky”, Mystetskyi Arsenal, Kyiv. 2018 “Flashback. Ukrainian Media Art of the 1990s”, Mystetskyi Arsenal, Kyiv.
IGOR ABRAMOVYCH
Art dealer, curator, art consultant. Advisor to the Director of the Modern Art Research Institute of the National Academy of Arts of Ukraine. Co-works with the Zenko Foundation since 2015. Selected projects: 2011 “20 Years of Presence, dedicated to the 20th anniversary of the Independence of Ukraine”, Kyiv, project co-curator and commissioner. 2012 “Contemporary Art of Ukraine”, within the parallel program of the First Kyiv International Biennale of Contemporary Art, ARSENALE 2012, Kyiv, project commissioner. 2013 “Contemporary Ukrainian Artists”, Saatchi Gallery, London, project co-curator. 2014 “Premonition: Ukrainian Art Now”, Saatchi Gallery, London, project co-curator. 2015 “Museum collection. Ukrainian contemporary art from 1985 to 2015. From private collections”, Mystetskyi Arsenal, Kyiv, project co-curator. Author of the idea and organizer of publication for the book by the famous Ukrainian art critic Galyna Skliarenko “Contemporary Ukrainian Art. Portraits of the Artists”.
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Zenko Foundation
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Zenko Foundation is Ukrainian foundation supporting and developing contemporary arts and culture in Ukraine. Zenko Foundation was established in 2015 upon the initiative of Yana and Zenko Aftanaziv. Its priorities include: an exhibition program of contemporary arts in wide-scale national and international projects; raising awareness of a wide audience about Ukrainian contemporary arts at home and abroad; intercultural collaborations in culture and arts; educational activities in culture field through distribution and provision of open access to printed publications and online materials about Ukrainian artists and artistic processes in our country. The main art space of the foundation is located on the territory of Koruna hotel complex in Tatariv. For cultural decentralization of contemporary Ukrainian artistic movement, the foundation supports art projects in different cities of Ukraine. The work of the foundation also includes the following: a publishing program aiming to raise awareness about Ukrainian art process among Ukrainian and international audiences; development of web portal where information about Zenko Foundation collection is readily available; and also a range of important reference materials about contemporary arts in Ukraine. Zenko Foundation collection has over 400 works by Ukrainian contemporary artists. The foundation deems it necessary to ensure open access to the works in its collection. To do this, the foundation provides paintings and art objects for exhibiting in art projects.
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COLOPHON Project curators Igor Abramovych Oleksandr Soloviov Project coordinator Adrian Aftanaziv Marketing, PR and Communications Julia Kuprina Iryna Gorodetska Catalog design Aliona Solomadina Exhibition visual identity Serhiy Fedynyak Photography Maksym Bilousov Logistics Artur Antonenko
zenkofoundation.com