The Place to be

February 20 – March 19, 2015

«Art Lobby» in InterContinental Kyiv
2a Velyka Zhytomyrska str. 

Artists: Victor Sydorenko, Alexandr Ratushny, Nikita Kravtsov, Beata Korn, Ruslan Tremba, Anna Mironova, Anatoliy Gankevich, Zoya Orlova, Stepan Ryabchenko, Olesya Trofimenko, Anna Naduda, Vadim Naidyuk, Nazar Bilyk, Kateryna Buchatskaya, Egor Zigura, Dobrynya Ivanov, Artem Volokitin, Nina Murashkina

Curators: Natalia Shpitkovskaya, Alla Sheremetieva
Design support of exposition: Vadim Naidyuk

The Place to be…

Space – isn’t it the first phenomenon embracing the man with a kind of fear almost horror at the first meeting?

Goethe

Every detail is important. What is primary - space or art? Space, by definition, is a kind of emptiness that can let the content inside. The same as a glass, by Heidegger, exists only because he must be filled with water.
Art is one of the elements of attraction, forming and materializing the space. The works of art together embody the place.

Our conciseness responds to generally accepted constructions of reality. A lux- class hotel, InterContinental, assumes business atmosphere of luxury. The elegant traditional style grants the relaxation. Each construct is for definite place and function. Tranquillity and safety come from carefully conceived conditions. The overall aura is perceived as a set of logical reason objects. Everything moves silently and invisibly. Constant perfection. Yet the constant requires vaccine: air and action. Violation of harmony leads to a new equilibrium.

The idea of "travelling art" project is not new. Driven by a progressive idea of "art for masses," artists from the well-known “Society for travelling art” in the 19th century overcame ideological and spatial boundaries. Freedom to choose the subject and method of demonstrating their creativity has become fundamental for the new historical art trend, open to ordinary people.

"To be the place" project has narrower goal- to bring contemporary art in the "circle of chosen" as an experiment for the intersection of style and meaning. The integrity should be compromised; the signs of distraction will invade the place. There is no intention for the sacralisation of space and introducing a new spark in the existing reality. Most viewers will be able to come to their own individual image-paradigms and feel the updated content.

The art-works presented in the exhibition are to spatial transformation equally. The welfare will leave its touch. Ortega y Gasset once wrote that the evolution of space could cause radical changes in art. We assume interpenetrating evolution.
  
The plot appears as a struggle of opposites, "inappropriate" things can cause an eclectic euphoria or rejection. But if the aesthetics of ugliness is recognized, the "out of style" existence can also be justified. The extremes are not supposed to be here - a common practice abroad, not only in luxury hotels, but also in places of faith and power, requires understanding and objectivity. That is a kind of tribute to the time and reflection of modern cultural trends. And Goethe fears in relation to the Place of the project subject in vain.