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Where there is no law, but every man does what is right in his own eyes, there is the least of real liberty
Henry M. Robert

How is our young art faring?

The MUKHi project tries to answer this question
26 May, 2011 - 00:00
ARTIST MAKSYM MYRNOV POINTS OUT THAT THE SURROUNDING WORLD CONSISTS OF NOTHING BUT CONCENTRATES, PRESERVATIVES AND ADDITIVES. PICTURED: E 102: A PEACH TREE / Photo provided by the Bottega gallery

Last week the Kyiv-based Modern Art Institute hosted the opening of a competition exhibit as part of the MUKHi project, which displays works by young Ukrainian artists. The project is primarily aimed at drawing broad public attention to the main processes now under way in present-day Ukrainian art. The project, organized for the past three years by the Bottega gallery curator Maryna Shcherbenko, won the support of the Modern Art Institute last year. Ukraine does not have too many art competition programs developing young artists — in fact, they can be counted on the fingers of one hand, with the PinckukArtCentre award arguably being the most high-profile of them. This year the MUKHi contest assumed a nationwide scale, receiving over 500 bids from all over Ukraine. The bids were reviewed by an expert panel consisting of Oleksandr Soloviov, Tiberius Szilvasi, Viktoria Burlaka, Maryna Shcherbenko, Viktor Sydorenko, and Yevhen Karas.

Andrii SYHUNTSOV, art manager of the Bottega gallery and one of the project organizers, spoke to The Day about the contest in greater detail.

Based on what principles did you select the competitors from among the 500 bidders?

“Experts first of all turned their attention to those young Ukrainian artists who show the spectator what they are working on and how this relates to the main trends in modern art. Among the basic conditions for participation is the contestants’ age: only bids by artists aged up to 35 were considered. The contestants apply absolutely diverse techniques, such as photography (Andrii Pylypets), installation (Anna Sorokova), and painting (Anatolii Tatarenko).”

This is a third such project in a row. Are there any innovations this year?

“What can be called an essential novelty is the fact that this year the MUKHi project is being sponsored by the Voronov Art Foundation, which has instituted prizes: 40,000 hryvnias for the winner, 15,000 for the runner-up, and 10,000 for the third-best competitor.”

Are there any changes in the main goals and specifics of this year’s project?

“I don’t think so. The competition is primarily aimed at drawing attention to the main processes now underway in present-day Ukrainian art. Please note that we are not holding a ‘contest’ — it is a project, and the contest is just a component of it. In other words, we are not just going to select the best works, display them, choose the winners, and hand out prizes. This will only be the beginning. Take, for example, the artist Zoia Orlova, last year’s winner: our competition was a stepping stone for her, a point of departure (interest in this artist has essentially grown in the past year. — Author).”

The MUKHi exhibit will be open until June 9 at the Modern Art Institute (18D, Shchors St., Kyiv). Once it is over, there will be an award ceremony at Crystal Hall, where the young artists will display their works. These are in various genres of new media art, such as installation, digital street art, sound installation, and video art.

By Sofia KUSHCH
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