Do you remember IZOLYATSIA – a non-profit non-governmental foundation, established 2010 in Donetsk, on the territory of a former insulation materials factory? The founders described their project as a platform for cultural initiatives. Actually, it would not be an exaggeration to say that IZOLYATSIA enjoyed a de-facto status of as much as nationwide center for art and education from the very beginning of its existence.
On June 9 2014, the territory had been seized by armed men on behalf of the so-called DNR and was barbarically turned into prison. IZOLYATSIA evacuated to the capital – Kyiv Shipyard became its new location.
Now the foundation’s principal showroom is situated on the second floor of a common industrial concrete building. At the moment it hosts “Revision,” a conceptual photo exhibition. At its center there is a two-sided photograph of people clad in business attires, who bustle in what might be seen as a perfect art repository, a model museum with garden and portico. They are hauling canvases and sculptures; the whole process, however, more resembles looting rather than renovation.
On the side there are full-length portraits of individual “Revision” participants amid the ashes – ragged, covered with soot, holding no longer needed brooms and vacuum cleaners.
LIUBOV MYKHAILOVA, PROMOTER OF THE IZOLYATSIA FOUNDATION
Perhaps another context might have brought wider possibilities of interpretation, but here and now “Revision” is unambiguously understood as a clear metaphor of what had happened to IZOLYATSIA and Donbas in general.
Would such projects define an original face for IZOLYATSIA in the new circumstances? After all, the foundation arrived into the city that already has Mystetsky Arsenal, PinchukArtCentre, Visual Culture Research Center on Hlybochytska St., Closer club, M17, National Museum of Fine Arts which exhibits contemporary projects; not to mention the abundance of smaller galleries. Yet another postmodern exhibition hall might just get lost in such an environment.
As a matter of fact, what was the main attraction of IZOLYATSIA in Donetsk? Its location – a unique and, one might say, fascinating place. The territory of abandoned insulation factory, a post-industrial area with faded brick chimneys and walls, deserted railways and slagheaps overgrown with weed was a perfect site not only for exhibiting, but also for creating art.
WHAT IS THE MAIN ATTRACTION OF IZOLYATSIA? ITS LOCATION – A UNIQUE AND FASCINATING PLACE/ Photo courtesy of IZOLYATSIA Foundation
The location is gone, but there is yet a social focus, which distinguished the institution in the past, and, apparently would determine its profile in the future. The first steps have already been taken: “Zakhoplennya” – a project under the curatorship of Clemens Poole – hosted 11 different installations around the city. Now IZOLYATSIA prepares to launch a series of specialized workshops and creative residences for artists. It seems that the “isolationists,” contrary to how their foundation is called, will try to go beyond the established “viewer-exhibition” ritual and bring the art to the city, making it more diverse place. None of the aforementioned institutions attempts this on such a scale, and yet such approach is essential for Kyiv. One can only hope that IZOLYATSIA will succeed on this path.
