THE ART SCENE: Kyiv exhibit explores the "Ukrainian brand"

The Center for Contemporary Art in Kyiv closed the year with the exhibit "Brand 'Ukrainian.' " The exhibit, which opened on December 16, 2001, and runs through February 10, elicited both extensive public interest and discussion in the press.

The exhibit explored the notion of the brand name, or trademark, in the greater context of art and culture as a marketing product in the era of the global market. As noted in a CCA statement presenting the exhibit, "in the contemporary world, art and culture are packaged and sold as any other product," with the artists themselves often using particular marketing tools and strategies as both an integral part of the work itself and as a means to promote their product. (Suffice it to mention the work of Christo, who is known for his wrapping or packaging of landmark buildings world wide as well as of ocean shorelines; and, the work of Jeff Koons, where the label/brand "Jeff Koons" is not only the signifier but the signified.)

The unifying element of the "Brand 'Ukrainian' " exhibit is the attempt to explore, on the part of the curator and the participating artists, the interaction between art and the forces of the market and social forces in general.

In exploring the "Ukrainian brand" in contemporary art, the exhibit asks whether the artists will create a "brand for brand's sake" (i.e., as in art for art's sake) or whether they will succeed in fashioning an identity that will generate its own brand. As noted in the exhibition statement, the participating artists of "Brand 'Ukrainian' " are often distinctive brands in their own right.

Another intentional aspect of the exhibit is to expose and reflect upon the contested meanings of Ukraine's national cultural achievements, their political uses and their role in shaping the national identity of artists and of the public.

The exhibit is curated by Jerzy Onuch; participating artists include Oleg Kulik, Andriy Sahaidakovsky, Serhiy Bratkov, Tiberi Shilvashi and Ihor Haidai, Maksym Mamsikov, Illia Chichkan, Masoch Fund artists Ihor Podolchak and Ihor Dyurych, Viktor Marushchenko, as well as Alexander Roytburd, Taras Polataiko and Lucio Fontana.

Apart from extensive media coverage, the exhibit was seen by President Leonid Kuchma, in his first-ever visit to the National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy complex where the center is located.

- Ika Koznarska Casanova

Copyright © The Ukrainian Weekly, February 10, 2002, No. 6, Vol. LXX

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