CTG(R): Ukraine 2022-2023
In philosophy, systems theory, science, and art, emergence occurs when an entity is observed to have properties its parts do not have on their own, properties or behaviors which emerge only when the parts interact in a wider whole.
Ukraine is now in a state of emergency, which means a situation of extreme danger, where ordinary daily life is no longer possible and the rules that regulated it are no longer valid.
The casual path of life is broken. Nothing is predictable, nothing is stable, nothing is guaranteed. Within such emergency life is no longer an inalienable right, it is a privilege, a miracle. Human ties are no longer a matter of comfort, it is a circulatory system that keeps us alive. Love is no longer a matter of choice, it is a duty. While reality is collapsing, creation is the law of survival. Every new day of this war we must draw new paths to replace destroyed ones, and find new fulcrums instead of those that have been crushed or lost. Every new day of this war we must imagine a new future and a new present instead of this shattered one.
Let’s believe in the law of conservation of energy. Everything that has been violently wiped out evolves into something new, unexpectedly beautiful, unconditionally powerful. Let’s notice that out of the debris of devastated order, new fragile constellations are relentlessly emerging. They need to be nourished and protected.
Artist-in-residence: Borys Kashapov
Borys Kashapov took part in the Watermelon Residency organised by Sandwich Gallery as long-distance resident.
Artist-in-residence: Dasha Chechushkova
The current war has irreversibly changed the reality of the artist who lost her home, studio and parter, parts of her identity. In the midst of the unknown, Dasha Chechushkova seeks her way through ghostly silhouettes, building a platicine home:
Dear diary,
I am like a shadow of d.ch.(Dasha Chechushkova) White shadow that is trying to sculpt a new house. A white shadow that remembers just the __desire to live. The shadow that passes through the field, passes the fire, passes through death with a white head covered, the identity is __lost. But even the shadow is still a threat?
Opened exactly 50 days after the beginning of the war in Ukraine, State of Emergence highlights 13 contemporary Ukrainian artists working now; 8 of whom are currently living inside of Ukraine, while 5 have been displaced across Europe since the early days of the Russian attack on February 24th, 2022. The exhibition explores the artistic manifestations that emerge in the midst of the state of emergency. Despite the horrors of war, artistic life in Ukraine flourishes with new initiatives, ideas, and practices of solidarity.
Artist-in-resdience: Diana Khalilova
The performance This Land Is Mine(d) was conceived by artist Diana Khalilova as a durational performance and collective cooking at CTG Atelier, as part of the exhibition, State of Emergence, that took place at Catinca Tabacaru Gallery.
Collective cooking of yantiq. Yantiq is a crimean tatar name for the dish that exists in different cuisines. In Azerbaijan it is called kutabi, in Dagestan it is chudu, in Bessarabia, placinda. It is a flatbread made of a simple, thin dough stuffed with cheese and greens. The process of cooking is often a collective one.
In Dagestan, the homeland of artist Diana, the cooking process usually begins by foraging wild edible plants in the forest. This is often a task performed by women and children. During and after the wars that took place in the regin, many mines remained buried in the land, where foraging took place, and many womena dn children fell victims to them.
The collective cooking of yantiq is a premise for sharing memories and untold stories from the personal or the collective past and present.
State of Emergence Bucharest, April – June, 2022
Chapter One brought together thirteen artists, eight of whom were still living in Ukraine on the day the exhibition opened. The works were first impressions, filled with emotion, danger, and short-term coping mechanisms. The exhibition brought forth reflections on the emergence of a new reality and subjectivity amid the State of Emergency.
State of Emergence marks the first contemporary exhibition of its kind, but hopes it is but a beginning as artists emerge to declare their resilience through their work.
State of Emergence, an exhibition curated by Lesia Kulchynska highlights 13 contemporary Ukrainian artists working now; 8 of whom are currently living inside of Ukraine, while 5 have been displaced across Europe since the early days of the Russian attack on February 24th, 2022.
With this exhibition, produced amidst the state of emergency, we want you to feel the overtones of a novel emergence. We want you to see Ukraine for the place where, within the cracks of a smashed reality, grow the precious sprouts of the new world. Despite the horrors of war, artistic life in Ukraine flourishes with new initiatives, ideas, and practices of solidarity. In the midst of grave concern over the preservation of Ukrainian cultural heritage, Catinca Tabacaru and Lesia Kulchynska focus on the emerging artist community.
Later that year, Chapter Two was mounted at Sandwich Gallery in Bucharest as an exploration and rediscovery by five artists of their personal and shared histories erased by Russia’s colonial violence over the past centuries.
State of Emergence NADA East Broadway, New York, October – December, 2023
This New York chapter of State of Emergence is the third in an ongoing collaboration between Kulchynska and Tabacaru. It started with an exhibition of Ukrainian artists in the Catinca Tabacaru Gallery’s Bucharest space, which opened exactly 50 days after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Chapter One brought together thirteen artists, eight of whom were still living in Ukraine on the day the exhibition opened. The works were first impressions, filled with emotion, danger, and short-term coping mechanisms. The exhibition brought forth reflections on the emergence of a new reality and subjectivity amid the State of Emergency. Later that year, Chapter Two was mounted at Sandwich Gallery in Bucharest as an exploration and rediscovery by five artists of their personal and shared histories erased by Russia’s colonial violence over the past centuries.
State of Emergence is organized under the Ukrainian Institute’s Visualize program, standing as a testament to resilience in the face of challenging times. Anastasiia Manuliak, Head of Visual Art for the Ukrainian Institute states, “By featuring works from Ukrainian artists alongside established artists of Ukrainian origin and renowned international artists, we hope to bring Ukrainian perspectives on global issues and challenges to the forefront. This inclusion of Ukrainian discourse in the vibrant art scene of New York City is an exciting opportunity to contribute to the artistic dialogue on a global scale.”
