Who benefits? Sabotage of the Ukrainian presentation (04/15/01)

Who benefits? Sabotage of the Ukrainian presentation

by Yuri Onuch

Ten years of independence have rid Ukraine neither of Soviet style institutions nor Soviet style behavior. The latest victim may well be Ukraine's first appearance as an independent country at the Venice Biennale - an event due to open in three months.

In October 2000, I was appointed curator of the Ukrainian presentation by Evhen Karas, officially designated commissioner for the Biennale by the Ministry of Arts and Culture. Today, (March 22) I learned, through a news item in a Kyiv newspaper, which quotes a press communiqúe of the Cabinet of Ministers dated March 20, that on March 15 the Cabinet appointed a new commissioner, that a new curator has been designated and a new art project chosen to represent Ukraine at the Biennale. Neither was I notified that my appointment was being reconsidered nor have the artists I chose for the Biennale been told to stop work on their project.

This latest development in what has been termed "the Biennale scandal" follows the publication, on February 15, of an open letter to the Minister of Arts and Culture from the Artists' Union, published in Literaturna Ukraina, the official paper of the Writers' Union. The letter called on the minister and the vice prime minister to dismiss the official commissioner and me - the official curator of the Biennale presentation. Issue was made of my non-Ukrainian status (I hold both Canadian and Polish citizenship, but have been working in Kyiv since 1997).

The letter does not mention that it was I who initiated the idea for Ukraine's participation in the 49th Venice Biennale and convinced both Minister of Arts and Culture Bohdan Stupka and Vice Prime Minister for Humanitarian Affairs Mykola Zhulynskyi to make an official submission to the Biennale.

In September 2000, the Ministry of Arts and Culture announced its decision to participate in the Biennale and appointed Evhen Karas, an advisor to the minister, as the commissioner; Mr. Karas chose me as the curator - a choice approved by the minister. Work on preparing the presentation began immediately - a working group of six persons was organized and the artists - Ihor Podolchak and Ihor Dyurych of the Masoch Fund - were chosen. The organization of the Ukrainian presentation was thoroughly open and public; press releases were issued and press conferences organized to announce each step of the Venice initiative. The process received widespread media attention.

But problems were brewing in the background. Not everyone accepted the rules of the Biennale. Attempts to put forward a so-called alternative presentation were made by Valentyn Rayevsky and his friends, backed by support of the Parliamentary Committee on Culture and Spiritual Affairs. When informed by the Ministry of Arts and Culture that it had no authority in this matter, the committee backed off.

When most of the preparatory work for the Biennale presentation had been done, the Artists' Union moved in with its open letter and usurped the project, insisting that it was the only body with the exclusive right to make decisions about who is to represent Ukrainian art at international festivals. The interests of an organization set up under Stalin's regime to control artistic activities in the USSR became more important than professionalism and competency.

It seems that the Artists' Union succeeded in pressuring Vice Prime Minister Zhulynskyi to have the Cabinet of Ministers appoint another commissioner. Oleksander Fedoruk, head of the State Agency for the Control of the Transfer of Cultural Treasures Outside Ukraine is to be the new commissioner, while the new curator is to be Mr. Rayevsky. Quoted in the above news item, Mr. Rayevsky smears me and questions my motives for being in Kyiv: "How is it that we have left our borders so unprotected that we don't know who is working on our territories and with what aim?" (Ukrainske Slovo, March 22).

In proposing Ukraine's presentation at the Venice Biennale, I wanted to show that Ukraine can take part in artistic discourse with the rest of the world. Unfortunately, I discovered that this society has many entrenched interests unwilling to give up their Soviet-type control and their perks.

In challenging the monopoly of institutions like the Union of Artists for the sake of the independence of art, I have been thrust onto the political stage to fight for Ukrainian art, for the freedom of expression and for an open society. I appeal to the art community to express solidarity with those who believe that art can only flourish in a society that values freedom and openness.

Yuri Onuch is curator of Ukraine's presentation at the Venice Biennale. This article was written in Kyiv on March 22.

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