Since June 30 the PinchukArtCentre has opened solo exhibitions of Ukrainians Zhanna Kadyrova and Piotr Armianovski, as well as the Frenchman JR (we told you about him here). Kadyrova’s ‘Flying Trajectories’ ‘addresses Ukraine as a country in the process of self-definition’, while Armianovski’s exhibition ‘History of Relations’ is a chronicle of the observation of the social fabric in Ukraine. DTF Magazine takes a closer look at both exhibitions
‘Flying Trajectories’, Zhanna Kadyrova
As Kadyrova noted at the press conference, this is her first solo exhibition in Kyiv in ten years, and all that time she has exhibited abroad. The artist combines the past and future of Ukraine. She sees the country’s historical past as something that influences the current process of its self-identification.
‘The project addresses Ukraine as a country in the process of self-definition. Giving way to different trajectories that simultaneously come into existence often going through acts of destruction and violence’, the exhibition’s description reads.
The central room of the exhibition shows the works ‘Shots’ (2022-2023) and ‘Harmless War’ (2023) — it is a white-painted house made of metal sheets that have been pierced by shrapnel. This is how Zhanna Kadyrova captures the material consequences of russia’s full-scale war against Ukraine and ‘reduces those material evidences to forms which are welcomed by the gaze of a Western art audience’.
The PinchukArtCentre team noted that the work ‘became one of the artist’s most provocative gestures’.
Part of the exhibition was a series of works called ‘Anxiety’, which combines hand and machine embroidery with landscapes. Zhanna first undertook this project in March 2022, when she was forced to move from Kyiv to Zakarpattia, where she noticed traditional embroidery. In February, works from the series ‘Anxiety’ became part of the exposition of the ‘Module of Temporality’ art space, which will move to Lutsk in July.
For the PinchukArtCentre, Kadyrova provided embroidery with landscapes of Zakarpattia and people of the region in traditional dress.
‘The final chapter of the exhibition could as well be a beginning. It addresses the position of the artist herself when, in the beginning of the full-scale invasion, making art felt useless. It leads us to the Carpathian mountains, where Kadyrova defined her own place in the war, — the PinchukArtCentre team commented on the series. — It created a new line where through art, Kadyrova can speak about Ukraine around the world, while defending it and bringing monetary contributions back to her country’
Kadyrova created ‘Flying Trajectories’ in collaboration with the art center Kunstverein Hannover, Germany, where she presented her retrospective ‘Daily Bread’ in early 2023. The exhibition will be on view at the PinchukArtCentre until January 7, 2024.
‘History of Relations’, Piotr Armianovski
The ‘History of Relations’ exhibition by Piotr Armianovski is part of the special PAC UA program by the PinchukArtCentre team. It was launched in 2011, and the aim of the platform was to present new works of Ukrainian artists created with the support of the art center, as well as to establish long term collaboration with them.
The ‘History of Relations’ exhibition spans the period from the years before the Revolution of Dignity, ‘marked by wide spreading of social movements across the country’, to russia’s occupation of some of the Ukrainian territories in 2014, and further to the full-scale invasion.
The PinchukArtCentre team explained that the exhibition was ‘intended to foster personal reflection and public discussion’. Here they show Piotr Armianovski’s short films ‘Black Cleaning’ (2014), ‘Sloviansk’ (2014), and ‘Me and Mariupol’ (2017) in a closed soundproof room where the viewers ‘can be alone’, reflect on the events of the last decade, or ‘express their feelings by screaming and crying or simply sit down and spend some time in absolute silence’.
You can visit the exhibition of Piotr Armianovski until October 1, 2023.
On June 30 the first solo exhibition of the French artist JR opened in PinchukArtCentre. The artist’s exhibition occupies two floors of the art space. On the second floor you can see a series of lithographs, giving an enticing view into the artist’s work and practice, and on the third floor — the Inside Out project, which in Ukraine shares the message ‘We are here’.
The artist brought to Kyiv a Photobooth Action installed in the PinchukArtCentre. There visitors can take portraits and paste it onto the walls of the ArtCentre and join the Inside Out project.
Zhanna Kadyrova is one of Ukraine’s most notable artists, laureate of the Kazimir Malevich Artist Award and the Sergey Kuryokhin Modern Art Award. She has participated in three Venice Biennales and has numerous solo exhibitions in galleries and museums around the world.
For our MOT art space, the artist provided a work called ‘Anxiety’, which combines French and Ukrainian hand and machine embroidery, as well as an air-raid alarm. Zhanna first undertook this project in March 2022, when she was forced to move from Kyiv to Zakarpattia, where she noticed traditional embroidery. Subsequently, the project was presented in several countries, including France, Norway and Poland.
Piotr Armianovski is a Ukrainian artist, performer, director and co-founder of the ‘Pic Pic’ art group. He was born and raised in Donetsk, and after the occupation of the city by russia he left for Kyiv, where he now lives and works.
Armianovski works with documentaries, theater, and visual practices. In his works and projects, the artist addresses themes of memory, loss, and the ‘symbolic and social constructs of everyday life’.
Piotr’s works were presented at the Venice Biennale 2019, as well as at such festivals as the Topical Play Week, Manifesta 14, and the Kharkiv Biennale of Young Art 2019. Armianovski is also a recipient of the 2020 Gaude Polonia scholarship and has been an expert of the Ukrainian Cultural Foundation since 2021.
