THE ART SCENE: Roadblocks en route to the Venice Biennale
by Oksana Zakydalsky
Special to The Ukrainian Weekly
KYIV - I arrived in Kyiv on March 20, expecting two and a half months of absorbing and focused work on the catalogue for Ukraine's Venice Biennale presentation. Instead, I walked straight into a press conference titled "Sabotage of the Ukrainian Exhibition at the 49th Venice Biennale," which had been organized by the Biennale working group.
To summarize what I had already written about the Ukrainian preparations for the Venice Biennale (The Ukrainian Weekly, December 31, 2000): in May 2000, Yuri Onuch, director of the Center for Contemporary Art in Kyiv, wrote to Minister of Culture and Arts, Bohdan Stupka, and Vice Prime Minister for Humanitarian Affairs Mykola Zhulynskyi, suggesting that Ukraine take part in the 49th Venice Biennale scheduled for June - November 2001. The ministry agreed to back this initiative and in August appointed Evhen Karas, an advisor to Minister Stupka, as the commissioner for the Biennale. In September, the ministry accepted Mr. Karas's choice of Mr. Onuch as the curator.
On October 20, Messrs. Karas and Onuch took part in a working session for commissioners and curators in Venice. Intimations of troubles came when artist Valentyn Rayevsky and Olha Malantii (Mazayeva) arrived at the working session with a letter of support from the parliamentary committee on culture and spiritual affairs also claiming official status. After being informed by Minister Stupka that it had no authority in the matter, the committee revoked its support for Mr. Rayevsky. In December 2000 the artists - the Masoch Fund - were selected by Mr. Onuch to be the Biennale participants. That's where I left off my previous narrative.
By March of this year, in spite of the fact that the working group organized by Mr. Onuch had already put in seven months in the preparation of the presentation - a detailed budget had been submitted to the ministry, premises found and hotel rooms booked, sponsors for additional funding to cover production and transportation costs found - other players had appeared on the scene.
On February 15, an open letter to the minister of culture and arts from the Artists' Union was printed on the front page of Literaturna Ukraina. It called for the dismissal of the officially appointed commissioner, Mr. Karas and the appointment of Oleksander Fedoruk, head of the state agency for the control of the transfer of cultural treasures outside the borders of Ukraine, as commissioner. (Literaturna Ukraina, February 15, 2001). The letter also called for Mr. Onuch's dismissal; it referred to his status as a non-citizen of Ukraine and questioned the suitability of such a person being responsible for Ukraine's presentation. The letter was signed by the heads of 24 regional branches of the Artists' Union, plus five national office-holders - the full Union nomenklatura.
On the same day that the Artists' Union letter appeared, an open letter from the "remnants of the young Ukrainian intelligensia" expressing no confidence in President Kuchma was published and Mr. Onuch's signature was one of 40 that were published at the time (the number has since grown to over 1,700).
After this publication, Mr. Onuch said:
"I was called to the offices of Minister Stupka and, in the presence of several ministry officials, told to rethink my support of the anti-Kuchma forces. I refused to withdraw my signature. A few days later, the ministry council discussed the Biennale project; ministry officials proposed that other projects, in addition to that of the Masoch Fund, be added to the presentation. I stated my position that there would be no change of the original conception of the presentation. Minister Stupka did not express his opinion.
"Mr. Fedoruk met with me later and tried to convince me to widen the presentation and include other artists, but I resisted I have been told that on March 13 a meeting was held between the Artists' Union leadership, Mr. Rayevsky and Ms. Malantii, Minister Stupka and Vice Prime Minister Zhulynskyi to which the Union leaders brought a copy of the letter I had signed, as well as a copy of the article written by George Soros on March 1 in The Financial Times criticizing the policies of President Kuchma."
March 15 was the deadline for submitting materials to the Biennale catalogue and for the confirmation of the participants of the national presentations. Materials from the Masoch Fund were sent to Venice. On the same day, representatives from the Artists' Union and the Academy of Arts met to choose artists for the Biennale presentation. Commissioner Karas was informed of this meeting two hours prior to its starting time; Mr. Onuch was not informed at all. Valentyn Rayevsky's and Mr. Sydorenko's projects were selected.
Although no official announcements of any change in the personnel for Venice was announced, it was known that changes had been made. This led to the March 21 press conference after which the Biennale story received a lot of press and much air time. The papers and broadcasts speculated on the causes of what most of them termed the "Biennale scandal." Some assigned the blame to money: "Nobody had any claims until it became known that the Ministry of Culture had designated $130,000 for the Venice Biennale project then a war of accusations began." (Khreschatyk, March 30). Many papers attributed the cause to "the old methods at play."
The fact that the initiative to take part in the Biennale was taken by a non-citizen of Ukraine was seen as an issue, although whether it was the cause of the "scandal" or merely a weapon used in it is hard to say. But people did not hesitate to use it: the Artists' Union letter referred to Mr. Onuch being a foreigner and, in a published interview, Mr. Rayevsky said: "How come our borders are so unguarded that we don't even know who is working on our territories and with what aim?" (Ukrainske Slovo, March 22).
A press communiqué from the Cabinet of Ministers was published on March 22:
"For the first time, Ukraine is taking part in the 49th Venice Biennale. As directed by the Cabinet of Ministers, the Artists' Union and the Academy of Art formed a committee to consider projects which are being proposed for the presentation of Ukraine at the Venice Biennale. The project chosen is the one presented by the group of artists which includes Valentyn Rayevsky, Arsen Savadov, Oleh Tistol, Olha Melentiy and others. On the advice of the commission and the commissioner of the Venice Biennale - Academician and Doctor of Art History Oleksander Fedoruk - Valentyn Rayevsky is appointed curator of the project."
The communiqué was dated March 15, and it was the first time the changes had been made public. Neither Mr. Karas nor Mr. Onuch were notified by the Cabinet of Ministers.
An open letter to Minister Stupka and Vice Prime Minister Zhulynskyi, which protested the manner in which the issue of Ukraine's participation had been handled by the government and deplored the manipulation of choice and imposition of control by decree was posted on the Internet. By April 3 it received 151 signatures of support. Comments included the following: (from a correspondent, The Art Newspaper, London) "a huge part of your problem is that you are a Canadian citizen and therefore not considered Ukrainian enough"; "What did you expect?"; "It all sounds familiar"; "Do bolin znayome." One person wrote from Toronto: "Having lived and worked in Ukraine, I know exactly what it means to be regarded as 'chuzhyi' in the land one has always cared about."
Two artists, Oleksander Roitburd and Victor Maruschenko, who will be taking part in the International Exhibition (separate from the national presentations) at the Venice Biennale, wrote to Minister Stupka: "We find unacceptable the way the Artists' Union is using artists and art events for its own objectives ... The actions of the Artists' Union and the Academy of Art nomenklatura qualify as a 'perevorot' (coup) whose aim is to replace a purely professional matter with nomenklatura interests." (Letter to Minister Stupka, March 20).
Although I was involved with the working group of the original national presentation, I decided to get the view on the whole matter from the other group. Mr. Rayevsky, the newly designated curator of the newly designated official national presentation, agreed to meet with me. I explained to him that I was working with Mr. Onuch, but promised to transcribe his views honestly. Mr. Rayevsky pointed out that the group of which he is the spokesman - the New Creative Association - is made up of artists who have good track records in exhibiting and representing Ukrainian contemporary art outside Ukraine. He wanted to start "at the beginning."
Mr. Rayevsky related: "We have been working on our project and the question of a national representation from Ukraine at the Biennale for three years. We first discussed our idea with the Ministry of Culture right after the 1999 Biennale, and received the support of the then Minister Ostapenko. But in the next one and a half years there were three ministers. In April of last year we had a meeting with Minister Stupka and, although the meeting concerned another project of ours, we told him that project was a prelude to our next step - the Venice Biennale. We arranged to continue the conversation about the Biennale a few days later so that Savadov could come from Moscow where he had an exhibit. He flew in especially for the meeting, but Stupka would not see us. We tried to see the Minister two more times, but each time he refused to see us. Some things seemed to have taken place of which we were not aware. So Malantii and I obtained the support of Les Taniuk of the parliamentary committee and went to Venice to declare the existence of our project. We believe that the selection of the commissioner and the curator was not an open process, particularly for the professionals and for those who should represent the country."
"We have had obvious achievements in representing Ukraine in the context of world art - it is this group that has created that which can be called the face of Ukrainian art. Each of the artists involved has a good track record in Europe and an immense number of propositions. But we decided to devote ourselves to development here, to work in Ukraine. I spent a lot of time in Denmark, Norway and Germany and Savadov in the U.S. - but today we are here and we want to crown our careers with a serious event. This would be logical - we have devoted 15 years to contemporary art Why should we submit our achievements to a person who wants to calibrate our art according to some standard?"
I asked Mr. Rayevsky how such non-conformist artists as he were now allied with the Artists' Union. He answered, "I have never been a member of the Artists' Union, although Savadov and Tistol are members. I have never been in any alliance with the Union. But it is no longer the ideological structure it once was. You cannot imagine the changes that have taken place in the last 10 years. In 1995 our works and installations were torn down. We have excellent people involved in culture - the new commissioner is a truly distinguished figure - Doctor of Fine Arts and Academician Oleksander Fedoruk is an important figure in all respects. I know that the vast majority of the members of the union, cultural officials and academicians are buffoons, but I have no hesitation in saying that this person takes an active part in the field of art. I am very pleased that he was appointed."
Did he not think that the process to overturn the initial Ministry of Culture directives had been improper? Mr. Rayevsky answered, "We do have problems with our governing structures in matters dealing with art. Stupka could not make a decision. Therefore, Vice Prime Minister Zhulynskyi took on that responsibility, thank God My opinion and the last word on this affair is that what happened shouldn't have happened. A mistake was made, but it was corrected in time. And we still have a chance to present Ukrainian contemporary art in a worthy way with a group that has the full right to do so. There is no need to make a political conflict out of this. It does not exist. The conflict is between those who are involved in culture in Ukraine and a travelling salesman who wants to present himself as an intermediary."
I thought about what one person who had supported the open letter posted on the Internet had written: "I could never accept the deep-seated unwillingness to accept us as genuine, albeit different ('other') part of the Ukrainian nation too often the attitude would be that the given émigré was either 'stupid and naïve' (read 'loser') or had some ulterior motive (read 'is a spy, carpetbagger, scam artist,' etc)."
Was the "scandal" the result of political calculations, or personal ones? Someone went ahead and did something others felt was their entitlement. The Artists' Union, because it was not consulted, and Mr. Rayevsky and his artist friends, who had invested a lot of work into the contemporary art scene, felt unfairly excluded. But it was all "set right" at the end.
We give the last word to Vice Prime Minister Zhulynskyi, who said this on TV: "I asked the opinion of the head of the Artists' Union, the president of the Academy of Arts and Bohdan Sylvestrovych Stupka - I asked him and he answered: 'I was set up. I am to blame - but I was set up. I wanted to do the best I could, but it came out as usual.' "
One should not underestimate the significance of the event: reactions to the "scandal" came from Poland, Canada and the United States, but also Italy, Switzerland, Germany, Denmark, United Kingdom, etc. and showed that people were tracking events in Ukraine. Might one expect a visit from "artists without borders"?
* * *
The Masoch Fund
The Masoch Fund is an art group, founded in Lviv in 1991 by Ihor Podolchak, Ihor Diurych and Roman Viktiuk to undertake collective art projects. The name was inspired by the historic link between the artistic activity of its founders and the persona of Leopold von Sacher-Masoch (1836-1895) who was born in Lviv and who used the local context in some of his novels which depict masochism.
The fund has staged art projects not only in cities of Ukraine and other countries but also in outer space: in 1993 it took part in an exhibition aboard the space station "Mir." Mr. Podolchak has participated in more than 150 international exhibits where he has won over 30 prizes. The title of the Masoch Fund project for the Biennale is "The Best Artists of the 20th Century;" the "artists" chosen for it are names newly inscribed into the history of art: Hitler, Truman, Pol Pot, Khruschev, etc.
New Creative Association
Headed by Valentyn Rayevsky, the association's most recent project was "Intervals - Cosmism in Ukrainian Art of the 20th Century" shown in Kyiv and Oslo in 2000. Selected members of the NCA include the following.
Copyright © The Ukrainian Weekly, April 15, 2001, No. 15, Vol. LXIX
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