Fear and Hope: Nikita Kadan, Zhanna Kadyrova and Artem Volokitin
Jan Fabre
17 May–5 October 2014
PinchukArtCentre
1/3-2, “А” Block,
Velyka Vasylkivska / Baseyna str.
Kiev
Ukraine 01004
The PinchukArtCentre presents Fear and Hope–a group exhibition of three Ukrainian artists: Nikita Kadan, Zhanna Kadyrova and Artem Volokitin, the Main Prize Winners of the PinchukArtCentre Prize since 2009. With this show, artists respond to the new sociopolitical context of Ukraine formed by recent events in the country and ongoing crisis.
In November 2013, citizens of Ukraine started an unyielding protest, where people occupied Maidan, the central square in Kyiv, in defense of their ideas for future Ukraine. Artists from all over Ukraine were at the forefront of those protests. They were present there both as citizens and artists. It resulted in a flow of artistic practices, documentary images, texts, performances and actions.
With protests turning violent, being an artist inside the protests somehow lost its place. Between 18 and 20 February, more than 100 protesters were shot dead in the streets. It was the tragic highlight in more than three months of ongoing peaceful protests. In the rush of events, the space to reflect artistically disappeared and was exchanged for direct action.
Bjorn Geldhof, Deputy Artistic Director of the PinchukArtCentre, curator of the show: “The exhibition Fear and Hope shows that there was urgency from the artist to deal with the dramatic events that have changed Ukraine. And it is that urgency that finds form into the exhibition. Through their works somehow there is a distance created which offers a platform to think and discuss the future of Ukraine but also remember what has happened in the last several months.”
In the middle of this ongoing conflict, Fear and Hope embodies an urgent artistic response. Nikita Kadan, Zhanna Kadyrova and Artem Volokitin deal with past and recent conditions of their country, exploring subjects of conflict, memory and individual loss. The exhibition in the PinchukArtCentre is a platform where artists can be both critical and non-partisan, and combines their new produced works with older works, revealing the presence and development of those subjects through their thinking.
The PinchukArtCentre prolonged the first solo show in Eastern Europe by the Belgian artist Jan Fabre till October 5. With this two-chapter exhibition Fabre continues elaborating his critical reflections on the Belgium’s colonial past, a theme that appeared in his oeuvre in 2002, when he used millions of beetle wings to created a monumental ceiling painting Heaven of Delight for the Royal Palace of Belgium in Brussels.
The first chapter, titled Tribute to Belgian Congo, is inspired by the enslavement of millions of Congolese and the atrocities committed against them as well as the greed of the colonialists, who stole as much as possible of the natural riches the country had to offer. Fabre depicts the brand logos and products of companies that co-organized the horrors in the name of profit, the whole pride of Belgian industrialists of the late 19th century.
The second chapter of the exhibition, called Tribute to Hieronymus Bosch in Congo, deals with the absurdity and horror of what happened in the country in a more symbolical way, using both the iconography and imagery of paintings by Hieronymus Bosch. The works give artistic form to evil deeds and stand as an arresting critique of the folly that ensues when men lose their bearings in life.
PinchukArtCentre is the largest and most dynamic private contemporary art centre in Central and Eastern Europe. Recent events have included personal exhibitions by Jeff Wall, Gary Hume, Olafur Eliasson, Candice Breitz, Damian Ortega, Sergey Bratkov, Subodh Gupta, Damien Hirst, Jake and Dinos Chapman, Anish Kapoor, and others. The art centre has founded Prizes to support national and international young artists up to 35. PinchukArtCentre represented Ukraine at the Venice Biennale on several occasions.
Contact details for media enquiries:
T +38 044 494 1148 / press [at] pinchukartcentre.org
General enquiries:
T +38 044 590 0858 / info [at] pinchukartcentre.org
