11 dienų. (Lithuanian)
In: Daile, 2022-04-01, Heft 88, S. 5-9
serialPeriodical
Zugriff:
The morning of February 24 was a shock for everyone. It made you look for a place where you would feel safer than, for example, in your own apartment. For me and the Kharkiv art community, YermilovCentre was such a place. It was the first clear idea among many confused and vague speculations about what to do next. For 10 years, the Center has gathered around itself an art community that existed quite separately but had similar guidelines and wishes for further development of the Kharkiv and Ukrainian artistic environment. However, it was at the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine that we could see all these connections and the fruits of cooperation live - the Center became not only a bomb shelter for the artists of Kharkiv but also a place of real support. With a premonition of trouble floating in the air, you try not to start long-term projects and rather implement what you had started before. The feeling that what had been planned would not make sense haunted Ukrainian artists shortly before February 24. On the 22nd, an exhibition planned a year earlier opened at the YermilovCentre. It was bout children's toy soldiers, raising fighters from childhood. Of course, in this atmosphere of possible war, news of the signing of provocative documents, and a sense of danger, it was no longer perceived as a story about children's play. As such toys are turning into our reality. Within two days of opening, this exhibit was already the backdrop of arranged sleeping quarters, a makeshift canteen, and a disturbing life in the news. The place where I worked became my home for eleven seemingly endless days. Who would have thought that our basement space would be used as a shelter? Our life there began not with the sound of explosions, although under their accompaniment. Life was formed from caring for Vieach other, from asking "how are you?", after which the center was filled with neighbors and a drop of calm for friends. Every day spent there, in a situation of war, is a choice. It is a new decision and a search for answers: to go or to stay? (and if to go, where to?), to risk leaving the premises to buy supplies or to fetch water? How to behave next? Here everyone could concentrate and think about their own further actions, discuss the situation, and deal with their emotions. Simultaneously we were solving everyday problems in the new conditions, meeting and seeing off acquaintances, going to the store under fire, trying to do volunteer work, communicating, and just doing what we could to support each other. Natalia Valentinovna, the director of the center, tried to adapt the organizational processes to the new conditions. The artists organized the space of the existing exhibition, turning it into a place to live. All in all, there were about 30 of us, including families with children and pets (cats, a dog, and a parrot). It was becoming a consolation because children are always children and demand attention and fun. The works also took on new meanings when, for example, the sand from the installation became a playground, an echo of normal life, and hope for a better future. Some of the artists started volunteering from the very first days - Oleg Kalashnik and Vitaly Kokhan drove people around the city (someone had to pick up their things, someone had to get to the train station). Such help to acquaintances grew into regular volunteering - they joined one of the organizations with which they delivered humanitarian aid around Kharkiv. Someone had to do a lot of things remotely - Pavel Makov spent the first days in the Center and talked a lot with journalists and curators about the exhibition at the Venice Biennale and the situation in the city. Someone was dealing with security - finding emergency exits, blackouts, preparing tools just in case. At a certain point, we realized that this was our best project ever: a total installation, a long-term performance that demonstrated strong connections, an active cultural field, real friendships, and real art. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
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Titel: |
11 dienų. (Lithuanian)
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Autor/in / Beteiligte Person: | Rubanenko, Margarita |
Zeitschrift: | Daile, 2022-04-01, Heft 88, S. 5-9 |
Veröffentlichung: | 2022 |
Medientyp: | serialPeriodical |
ISSN: | 0130-6626 (print) |
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