Ukrainian News
16 March–2 June 2013
Centre for Contemporary Art
Ujazdowski Castle
ul. Jazdów 2
00-467 Warsaw, Poland
Hours: Tuesday–Sunday 12–7pm, Friday 12–9pm
Thursday free admission
T +48 22 628 12 -71-3
The exhibition Ukrainian News at the Centre for Contemporary Art Zamek Ujazdowski in Warsaw brings together for the first time a variety of engaged artistic practices from contemporary Ukraine. Focusing on the work of activist groups as well as individual artists, the exhibition shows conventions that transcend the accustomed artistic approaches. The Post-Soviet condition of Ukrainian society is represented through the work of various sorts—from street artists to intellectual communities involved in current social struggles.
In recent years, the contemporary art scene of Eastern Europe has seen an outburst of artistic engagement into social and political agendas of the Post-Communist Societies marked with the advance of neocapitalism. In particular, the context of Ukraine had experienced a proliferation of politically engaged artistic practices and approaches. This process was triggered, on the one hand, by the multitude of movements and groups that emerged in the aftermath of the Orange Revolution of 2004, and on the other hand by the advent of private capital into the local art scene, coupled with the drastic privatization of the public space. In this situation, various cultural and artistic initiatives had taken up a role of civic agents or merely activist groups, forming political demands and carrying out the functions of “civil society,” largely absent in the post-Soviet context. Numerous artists and groups undertook attempts to engage with the harsh social conditions and transform them by means available through their practice. Artistic methods became the important actors in the fight for urban space, as well as in the struggles for minority rights and in counteracting the discriminative policies of the state. The field of art has become the laboratory for the strictly social phenomena like grassroots movements, self-organized communities and anti-hierarchical organizations.
The exhibition, curated by Marek Goździewski, presents works from artists such as Yevgenia Belorusets, Anatolii Byelov, Ihor Diurych, Grupa Predmetiv, Ksenia Hnylycka, Hnylyckyi Ołeksandr, Oleh Holosyi, Hudrada, Nikita Kadan, Zhanna Kadyrova, Alevtyna Kakhidze, Lesia Khomenko, Oleksandr Kurmaz, Volodymyr Kuznestov, Vasyl Lozynskyi, Maksym Mamsikow, Viktor Marushchenko, Boris Mikhailov, Roman Minin, Lada Nakonechna, Ihor Podolchak, Taras Polataiko, R.E.P., Mykola Ridnyi, Andriy Sahaydakovskyi, Arsen Savadov, SOSka Group, Visual Culture Research Centre, Volodymyr Vorotnov, and Anna Zvyagintseva.
The exhibition is accompanied by a program of lectures curated by Oleksander Soloviov, and a series of films.
Ukrainian News is organized by the Centre for Contemporary Art Ujazdowski Castle. It is supported by the Beaurau of Culture of the City of Warsaw, with contributions from the Polish Institute Kyiv; Mystetskyi Arsenal in Kyiv, National Art Museum of Ukraine and Ya Gallery Art Centre.
CCA media patronage: Aktivist, Exklusiv, Stolica, Elle Decoration
Information
CCA Press Office: T +48 22 625 05 22, biuroprasowe [at] csw.art.pl
