Kyiv Huss 1 2016 УДК 7:322.2](477)=111“2013/2014” ББК 85(4Укр)+66.3(4Укр) М91 Author, Natalia Moussienko Designer, Marian Luniv Translated into English by Andriy Kulykov from the original edition: Мистецтво Майдану [автор, Наталія Мусієнко] – Київ, 2015. – 96 с. Art of Maidan [Author, N. Moussienko] – Kyiv : Huss, 2016. – 96 p. ISBN 978-617-7110-69-8 This book “Art of Maidan” by Natalia Moussienko documents the explosion of artistic creativity in all its diversity during the Revolution of Dignity, 2013-2014, in Kyiv. It also presents the Travelling Exhibit of Maidan Art and its journey through Ukraine and the United States. The publication is for anyone interested in this passionate period in the history of 21st century Ukraine. Copywrite © Natalia Moussienko, author, 2016 Copywrite © Marian Luniv, designer, 2016 This publication was made possible due to the support of the International Renaissance Foundation 2 to my dear Oksanas Moussienko 3 CONTENTS 06 FOREWORD 08 FOREWORD FOR THE ENGLISH EDITION 10 1. ART AND REVOLUTION: KYIV MAIDAN OF 2013-2014 13 2. MAIDAN, THE ART TERRITORY 14 • Art and Politics 15 • New Year’s Celebrations on Maidan 17 • Installations 20 • Poster art 23 • Photography 26 • Exhibitions “Women of Maidan” and “Images of Maidan” 28 • Sculpture 29 • Painting 35 • Artictic groups 38 • Music 43 • Theater 43 • Cinema 47 • Literature 50 • Performance: Piano, an instrument of freedom 52 • Artistic actions abroad in support of Maidan 54 3. THE TRAVELING SHOW BY UKRAINIAN ARTISTS 56 • Kyiv: The Fulbright Gallery 58 • Washington DC: The Wilson Center and the Ukrainian Embassy in the USA 62 • Vinnytsya: Truthful Testimony 64 • Kamyanets-Podilsky: The Picture Gallery 66 • Cultural Diplomacy Forum: Poster Exhibition 67 • Chernivtsi: Museums and Cultural Diplomacy 69 • Ivano-Frankivsk: The Fortress Gallery 71 • Kalush: Museum and Exhibition Center 72 • Arkansas: The State Universitу 76 4. REVOLUTION OF DIGNITY ART EXHIBIT 81 AFTERWORD 82 • Natalia Moussienko’s publications on the Art of the Maidan 85 • Revolution of Dignity Art Exhibit Catalog 88 • Index of Names 94 • Index of Art Associations, Festivals and Сultural Institutions 4 Dignity includes such fine qualities as decency and responsibility for what is happening in your country. This puts obligations on each person. The Revolution of Dignity has shown the common cause in Ukraine. The Maidan became the embodiment of artistic creation. Artists formed the Maidan that we remember, and documented it for the coming generations. This work is not finished, it lives on, and we all are participants in this process. Marta Kolomayets, Director, Fulbright Program in Ukraine The world needs as many truthful stories as possible about Ukraine, its culture, its national heroes, its public leaders. The Kennan Institute takes an active part in devising and implementing projects aimed at developing the sphere of cultural diplomacy in Ukraine. Kateryna Smagliy, Director, Kyiv Office, Kennan Institute Time goes by, and events of years past, even so essential and stormy as the Maidan, are fading away little by little, while war, reforms, and changes come to the forefront... In fact, life moves onwards but we don’t have with us those who gave their lives in the winter of 2014 under snipers’ bullets, those who were tortured to death during the Revolution, those who died defending Ukraine’s sovereignty. The Revolution of Dignity has gone far beyond the winter of 2013-14, and every one of us wages a war of their own today, and everyone does this in their own field: against corruption, for the independence of our country, for a worthy life. I am grateful to Natalia Moussienko for her work aimed at preserving the memory: memories come to life as if you are reliving the events, hoping and believing again… Faith is with us. Tetiana Yaroshenko, Head of Board, "Ukrainian Fulbright Circle", Vice President, National University of "Kyiv-Mohyla Academy" 5 Do not allow for a thought That God (!) will show no love The term of human life is short And for defeat there’s no time Lina Kostenko, “Berestechko” FOREWORD The Kyiv Maidan of 2013-14 had dashingly written a bright and tragic page of world history. Time and distance will provide a possibility for a more profound analysis and for mul- tifaceted, in particular, artistic reflection. The art creation that spilled out on Independence Square during that winter deserves special study and attention. The powerful, sponta- neous creative energy flooded Kyiv’s squares and streets and the Internet space; it changed and formed a new dimension of the society and the country. And the world. On November 26, 2013 when there still was a glimmer of hope for the signing of the Association Agreement between Ukraine and EU at the summit in Vilnius, I presented my study of the art space of Kyiv to the public: “Kyiv Art Space”1, pub- lished by the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Schol- ars in Washington, D.C. The event took place at the “Art 14” Gallery next to the Maidan, as part of the project “Artist and the City”, alongside the exhibition of works by artists Glib Vysheslavsky and Marian Luniv. The visitors spoke of art and politics. Or, rather, in this order: about politics and art. Nobody present could imagine what the winter that was in- evitably approaching would mean for Kyiv. In the whirlwind of events that did not leave time for a detailed analysis I un- derstood that I had to take note of everything that was hap- pening. Even then, after the first massive demonstration on November 24, 2013, the bright artistic aspect of the protest became evident, as well as the need to document the revo- lutionary creativity. I remembered that during the Orange Revolution of 2004, I had a photo camera with film, I had just set up the Internet at home, and I had not even heard then of the newborn Facebook. Now, in the era of digital photography, I had an opportunity to document everything in a detailed manner. Mariya Pavlenko. Photo from the series “The New Middle Ages” 1 Moussienko N. Kyiv Art Space [Electronic resource] / Natalia Moussienko // Kennan Institute Occasional Paper. — 2013. — №309. — Woodrow Wilson Centre for International Scholars. Washington, D.C.. — 26 p. — Mode of access: http://www.wilsoncenter.org/publication/kyiv-art-space-2013 6 An overwhelming majority of Kyiv artists and activists Chapter IV, “Revolution of Dignity Art Exhibit” again about whom I wrote in the book “Kyiv Art Space” became addresses the English-speaking readers, and is a concise story participants in Maidan. Those who changed the urban space of the Traveling Exhibition, with a conclusion as well. of Kyiv are changing the country now. In fact, this was what I The book’s afterword sums up the work done by the had predicted in my study. I continued my research in Maidan; author and expresses sincere gratitude to those who helped the study of Kyiv’s artistic space which at that moment was this book appear. revolutionary. The study went on in two directions: photo- The scientific and auxilliary part contains the list of graphing artistic manifestations in Maidan and collecting jour- Natalia Moussienko’s publications on the art of Maidan; the nalist pieces, in particular, interviews with artists. Revolution of Dignity Art Exhibit catalog ; the name index and This book, “Art of Maidan”, has the following structure: the art associations’ index. Chapter I, “Art and Revolution: Kyiv Maidan of 2013-14” The book’s photos were taken from Natalia Moussien- presents my reflections, concisely, on interaction of art and ko’s and Marian Luniv`s archives, as well as from the archives politics in Ukraine for English-speaking readers, offered in my of the Fulbright Program and the Kennan Institute. Materials works published in the USA and Switzerland. that were freely accessible on the Internet during the Revolu- Chapter II, “Maidan, the Territory of Art”, contains tion of Dignity are also used. There are some photo works that manifestations of art in Maidan which I collected. Of course, were entered in contests, with the names of their authors. it is difficult to describe and analyze, in one study, the entire The book has also become a result of meeting the in- ocean of the Maidan creativity, and my work is just a drop in terested audiences. On January 31, 2014, I shared the mate- the ocean. The main time frame of Chapter II is November rial I collected on creativity in Maidan with colleagues from 2013-February 2014. However, there are mentions of books, the Modern Art Research Institute of the National Academy films, exhibitions that appeared later, as creative process and of Art of Ukraine. In April, I presented my study at a round the birth of works of art is difficult to put within limits. As table at the Kennan Institute’s Kyiv Office and NATO, and in a scholar and a researcher of urban space who chanced to May, at the Wilson Center in Washington, D.C. and the Ukrai- become a witness to and participant in those stormy events, I nian Institute of Modern Art in Chicago through the initiative tried to describe main trends of this phenomenon, to show it of the Fulbright Program in Ukraine. It was also then, in May as an important component of the sociocultural anthropology 2014, that the idea of a traveling exhibition of the art born of Maidan. by Maidan emerged. Chapter III, “The Traveling Show by Ukrainian Artists”, The art of Maidan covered the road from carnival to describes the exhibition of works dedicated to Maidan, trav- sacral and organically combined in itself elements of avant- eling around Ukraine and the USA, about interpreting them garde, mass culture, and high classicism that is characteristic anew at the time when war with Russia changed accents and of our era of post-modern.