Multicultural project “INTRO”

July

2019

At the Museum of Contemporary Ukrainian Art named after Korsak in Lutsk it was held the exhibition “Intro”– a large-scale multicultural project representing the creativity of about 40 artists from all over Ukraine.

These are nine small curatorial projects united by the main idea – reproduction of the process from the origin of an idea to its implementation with analytical and intellectual design. “I wanted to remind our compatriots that our cultural history does not occur at bureaucratic institutions or biased structures. “Intro” – providing an opportunity for open expression to “intimate” projects. It is a movement to authenticity, the art of small steps in knowing our self-giving and self-affirmation in it,” project coordinator Taras Tabaka said at the opening.

The bricolage form of the project made it possible to arbitrarily, without exchanging efforts, combine works belonging to both traditional types – painting, graphics and plastics, as well as multimedia art, digital photography, art objects and installations. Such an approach to the visual range of the exposition is a meticulous line-up of a peculiar artistic perspective.

According to the plan, the “Intro” project provokes the viewer to become a co-author of the general scenario, a kind of “builder” of mise-en-scenes of individual actions. After all, curatorial projects are presented do not give ready-made answers. It is rather a kind of provocation to plunge together with artists in their search, moving through the depths of subjective interpretation of previous experience. The exposition “Intro” does not raise the issue of clarifying relations with the past. It is an ample story about the present, personal worldview and experience, which allows us to think about the future as a special feeling that unites space and phenomena. Transformations of ideological content are presented by nine projects where the artists themselves are the curators. With this approach, the words of Marcel Duchamp are recalled: “I don't believe in art, I believe in artists”. Indeed, in this case, the artist becomes not so much a tamer of his own visions or observations as a director of a dialogical design, based on which is a transition from narrative to metaphorical.

“Calligraphic Exercises” (the curator Taras Tabaka, participants – Anna Myronova, Nata Popova, Mykhailo Khodanych and Yuliia Khomenko, Vladyslav Habda, Oleksandr Babak, Albina Tabaka, Ivan Nebesnyk, Liliia Kadar, Taras Tabaka, Andriy Voznicki, Oleksii Dynnyk, and Oksana Dovganych) – a peculiar inversion of calligraphy with its articulated perfection and handwriting. It is a gesture or intuitive movement, arbitrary outlines in solitude, not limited by the means of expression – a manifestation of intimate confidence in the world in the era of information technology.

“Privat” (the curator Natalia Tarnay, participants – Daria Yehorova, Kateryna Morhental, Kasha Potrohosh, Natalia Tarnay) – a project in which with the help of virtual images the issue of adopting one's “self” is actualized. Thanks to augmented reality, the authors demonstrate the polarity of the “filtered” external image and the hidden internal search for their own freedom.

“Iconostasis Of The Carpathians” (the curator Ruslan Tremba, participants – Volodymyr Ulianov, Emma Tremba, Vasyl Kadar, and Ruslan Tremba) – an art object, which is a kind of attempt to go beyond the traditional perception of form, image, and place. In the curator's version, the iconostasis is a gate between Heaven and Earth; a place where personality and ego dissolve in world harmony. The object is distinguished by the multivariance of the performance, where the creative “self” of individual artists absorbs the overall design of the project.

“Painting” (participants – Vasyl Kadar, Emma and Ruslan Tremba, Volodymyr Ulianov) – a project-response of four artists to the “Iconostasis of the Carpathians”. Colour-plastic reflections – an example of total belief in the possibility of painting, the attempt to reach the invisible levels of the world through conventional means of expression.

“Index 38020” (the curator Tamara Babak (the art residency “Velykyi Pereviz”), participant – Sasha Makarska) – a project-history, a kind of notepad of impressions, thoughts, and observations of the artist during her stay in the art residency “Velykyi Pereviz” in Poltava region. The picturesque mosaic of works shows the harmony of the so-called “small worlds” with their fluidity, unbreakable constancy, and endless tranquillity.

“Balance” (the curator Oksana Havrosh, participants – Bella Lohacheva, Nata Popova) – a photo project in which the solitary confinement of Nata Popova in the Caravaggio traditions is compared with a peremptory, defenceless entry into space with a taste of Albert Camus of Bella Lohacheva. Different schools of professional interpretation and points of view emphasize the emotional sophistication of our internal and external ego evaluations in search of harmony.

“Parkinson's Law” (the curator Robert Dovganych, participants – Ivan Nebesnyk, Oleksandra Liven, Robert Petrychka, Robert Dovganych, and Taras Vovchyn) – a photo project revealing the first law of British historian Cyril Parkinson: “The work fills the time that is allocated to it”. In this case, the artist becomes a kind of “hostage” of time, his manipulations and antics, which we, authors, sometimes call just a time pressure.

“Mutations of Love” (the curator Istvan Kus, participants –Bohdan Soroka, Yurko Koval, Nina Murashkina, Tetiana Rusetska, Anastasiia Poderevianska, Albina Yaloza, Karyna Arutiunian, and Istvan Kus) – another look at one of the eternal themes – earthly and heavenly love, which brought together representatives of various schools and directions in the project. Linocut and textiles, painting and graphics, art objects and painting on glass are variations of the manifestation of pointed, explosive, contra version, all-encompassing Love, where sacred and sinful are interpenetrating worlds.

“Earth” (the curators and participants – Nata Popova, Oleh Tokar) – an art object meditation. Purposeful human impact on Earth changes it, transforming it into a world of humanized substance. And if different objects and phenomena can arise and disappear, then the substance is uncreated and indestructible. It only changes the shape of its being, moving from one state to another.

For the Museum of Contemporary Ukrainian Art named after Korsak, “Intro” is one of the largest projects for today. Its polyphonicity organically fits into the general concept of the activities of the founders of the museum, Viktor and Lesia Korsak – “We change the past, think about the present, and create the future”. It is a kind of legalization of the power of art, the power of thought and the perspective of conceptual projections. In this context, “Intro” is a multi-faceted introduction, the richness of which is accessible to the thoughtful viewer and reflects the tendencies of rethinking and comparing the experience of the past and the present with the meticulous looking into the future.

Oksana Havrosh, art historian
Photo Robert Dovganych, Nata Popova, Robert Petrychka