This year the ART-KYIV international contemporary art fair has changed location and for the first time in its five-year history will be presented at the museum complex ‛Mystetskyj Arsenal’. ART-KYIV also has a new project curator, Olexander Soloviov, who according to local artist Olexander Roytburd, is the ‘father’ of modern Ukrainian art. ART UKRAINE talked to Soloviov about the specifics, innovations and genuine surprises of this much-anticipated event.

— How is this year’s ART-KYIV different from previous ones?

— First, this year’s ART-KYIV continues for the fifth year in a row, but it’s only the second ART‑KYIV contemporary art fair. Second, ART-KYIV has changed its location, with founder Natalya Zabolotna and her team coming from Ukrainian House to their new environs at the Mystetskyj Arsenal. But the change is not merely with the new address; this is an entirely new space, new context and with new possibilities. Mystetskyj Arsenal is a unique space, part of our architectural heritage dating back over a century, giving the fair a powerful genius loci, or spirit of location, owing to the building’s military origins. Today the Arsenal has experienced a cultural transformation, the scale of which makes it rather unique in the world. So, we will present a new artistic concept of the complex at the 2010 ART-KYIV.

— Is the Arsenal convenient in terms of its exhibition space for displaying contemporary art? 

— Very much so. This complex can serve multiple purposes; it allows us to host concept art events and present museum pieces – contemporary, classic and antique art – together in one space. As far as ART-KYIV is concerned, the internal configuration of the building, both its temple-like rounded vaults and straight, modern lines of sight, it will be an additional artistic challenge for organisers and participants, forcing them to use, play with and freely interpret all the nuances of the display space.

— What purely conceptual and organisational innovations will the fair have? 

— The fair could be nominally divided into three invariable components: commercial, non-commercial and intermediary. In respect of new spatial advantages these components will be well balanced. The commercial component relates to the exhibitions of individual galleries, and modern art galleries will occupy the left wing of the complex.

— Were the selection criterion even stricter this year? 

— Yes. Nonetheless it didn’t influence the number of participating galleries. Moreover, their number has even increased, and this year more than thirty galleries will participate. Participation in this prestigious event has motivated many to maintain high standards and purity of genre. Despite the fact that many big name galleries will not take part in ART-KYIV, no “vacuum” appeared; other galleries filled the available space, and some of them with a level of quality that pleasantly surprised us.

— And speaking of genres, are these exhibits homogeneous? 

— Paintings are traditionally popular; photo and video will also be displayed but mostly to help uncover the idea behind individual exhibits.

— Will most galleries be Ukrainian?

— Ukrainian galleries are the core of the fair, but the number of international participants has gone up. There will be several interesting Russian galleries from St. Petersburg and Moscow, one Belarusian one, and several from Europe, in particular well-known galleries such as White Square Gallery, which will present two projects: one by Gregor Sneider, a German artist also familiar to Ukrainian audiences, and one by Ukrainian artist Olexandra Zhumaylova-Dmytrovska.

— What would constitute that necessary link between the commercial and non-commercial aspects of the event?

— The link is the wealth of pieces of art from private collections. We call this project “Collectors of Visual Images”. Modern art collectors have ignited a positive trend and helped in the development of the Ukrainian art market; it indicates a healthy local artistic process. Collectors are investors in this development and in the art process itself. There will be pieces from more than a dozen collections on display. This year we also shifted the focus of our attention, with the vector to be between non-figurative art (Silvashi, Zhyvotkov, Kryvolap and others) and figurative – the so-called Ukrainian new wave (from earlier artists – Holosiy and Hnylytsky – to those still active (Svadov, Roytburd, Tsagolov, Mamsikov, Chichkan, Solomko and others).

— We understand that this year ART-KYIV will create a lab and experimental zone for the first time.

— Yes. And again the specifics of such projects have emerged from the new possibilities provided by the Mystetskyj Arsenal space. The right wing will be the experimental zone and is an enfilade of a dozen grand halls, each about 400 sq.m. So, the space is both divided and at the same time united, which is crucial for a complete visual perception of the overarching idea. This time the main part will consist of two principal projects. The first will display street art, these days one of the main trends that is mainstream globally. Street art evolved from the chaotic underground subculture opposing glamour into an integral cultural and art phenomenon. In many countries street artists face heavy fines and even jail time for their work; it originated the tradition of using nicknames to make graffiti anonymous, but with each artist recognisable by their own unique signature. ART-KYIV has invited аpl315, Hamlet, Homer and Lodek (former members of Psya Crew), Incubus project and Spy to the event. We are interested in street art as a cultural phenomenon, which is precisely why we invited it in from the street into our exhibition space, which retains some of its rough, street-like condition. The important conflict point here is how the street will behave under the arches of the Mystetskyj Arsenal exhibition space.

— It sounds like a self-contained experiment. Do you, as curator, see any future potential in this?

— I think this project could become a good contrast to the “gallery” part of the event, where things are more traditional. Here we will experience dynamics, action, search and work in progress, with interactive elements and even pure performance.

— Is this an international project?

— Yes. We invited artists from Ukraine, Russia, Germany and France. For example, we’ll see the classic of the street art genre, Harald Naegeli, a Swiss artist living in Germany. He will create a piece before live audiences to live musical accompaniment. Rochus Aust, a well-known German group, will also visit the event to present their mythical-futuristic musical show.

— How else do you plan to surprise visitors?

— The surprise comes from involving them in the creative process. As I said a few displays and installations will be interactive. Any visitor will be able to pick up a spray can and co-author a new piece of graffiti. By the way, as a general background to the exposition and experimental areas there will be a non-stop screening of Banksy’s street art movie, an entry at the Cannes Film Festival Exit “Through the Gift Shop”.

— What is the second component of the ‘experimental zone’?

— Video art. Immovable objects should be balanced with dynamics and movement. Luckily the space allows us to present large multi-screen video installations. These sections of the exposition will display works by Ukrainian, Russian and Swiss artists. SOSka will represent Ukraine with its animated work “Police Academy”, a three-screen video with photographic installation, as will the R.E.P. collective featuring Stas Volyazlovsky, Lada Nakonechna and Vodomydyr Kuznetsov. Their video works will represent various trends from bitingly social or discretely critical themes that use allegorical language to purely experimental pieces; livened-up graphics and paintings, and works that border different types of art and technologies. Glazer&Kunz from Switzerland will present a big multi-screen installation demonstrating curious symptoms of video art development – new techniques creating acoustic, plot and visual effects. The same artists will also display kinetic sculptures. A couple of German artists, Ursula Molitor and Vladimir Kuzmin, will present their very impressive light installation. And the Provmyza group (Serhiy Provorov and Halyna Myznikova) from Nyzhniy Novhorod, Russia (participants in the 2005 Venice Biennial and in the exhibition “21 Russia” that appeared in the PinchukArtCentre two years ago), will bring their highly interesting “Three Sisters” video: three girls face a choice on the edge of an imaginary cliff.

— What should we expect in the theoretical and educational parts of the event?

— ART-KYIV will host a roundtable again as per tradition. This time the discussion will focus on the museum in the modern context. We have invited some reputable art world experts – curators, art critics and museum representatives – to discuss the subject of involving museums in the modern artistic process, and adapting museums for various purposes, including modern art. The purpose of the discussion is to understand thoughts on how to balance modern and classic art since museums and modern art currently exist as separate entities that virtually never comingle. But this discussion is just one of many events in the ART-KYIV programme, as there will be presentations from galleries, plus lectures, charity auctions and much more.

— What is the niche that ART-KYIV plans to fill among other modern art events in Ukraine?

— Currently ART-KYIV is one of the three centres representing modern art in Ukraine on a large scale. While the PinchukArtCentre mostly displays world-class pieces and GogolFest is an interdisciplinary festival synthesising many different art forms, including theatre, music and visual art, ART-KYIV is the only event aiming at creating and representing the art process as it is, from its institutional and marketing elements to art creation laboratories. The ultimate goal is to develop and stimulate demand for modern visual art in Ukraine and abroad.