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viennacontemporary2021
02 September —
05 September 2021

selected works

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Voloshyn Gallery is taking part in the international fair of contemporary art viennacontemporary, where it presents the personal project of the Ukrainian author Nikita Kadan.

viennacontemporary has – since its first phase beginning back in 2015 – taken on a special position in regards to regional aspects and a focused view of contemporary art, an area which was once subcategorized as Eastern Europe. From 2–5 September 2021, viennacontemporary will present itself within the framework of a new concept: Austria’s most important art fair is showing an exhibition in Alte Post in cooperation with selected galleries – not least to give it a new space forpresentation and representation in challenging times and to enable and offer support.

Voloshyn Gallery presents the personal project of the Ukrainian author Nikita Kadan in the ZONE1 section. ZONE1 is curated by Franziska Sophie Wildförster, the co-director and co-founder of the art association Kevin Space in Vienna, who was also the curator of MINI / GoetheInstitut Curatorial Residencies New York and part of the curatorial department of Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary in Vienna. The prospective doctoral student at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna regularly writes essays for art magazines and publications and curated independent exhibitions, most recently the group exhibition “Benefit of the Doubt” at Deborah Schamoni, Munich (2021). ZONE1 is generously supported by the Federal Ministry for Arts, Culture, the Civil Service and Sport. 

In the solo-presentation of Nikita Kadan, Voloshyn Gallery presents a series of works «Broken Pole» (2019-2021) and «Victory Over the Sun» (2020). The Broken Pole consists of iron shields covered with hot, and then frozen resin, and photographs printed on silk fabric with images of ruins at the site of hostilities in Donbass. These are photos I took in 2015 and photos of lost avant-garde works by Vasyl Yermilov. This is, in fact, the black hole that absorbs the history of art, and general history and modernity. In this series, the artist turns to avantgarde works, but with contemporary interpretation. Nikita shows the extent to the present state's approach to monuments from the communist period. These monuments have been left to decay or been destroyed.

In his work Victory Over The Sun standard lattices – "sun" – as if crushed by a giant hand. The celebration of the victory over the dead giant parodies the avant-garde pathos of "Victory over the Sun" (plays by Oleksiy Kruchonykh and Mykhailo Matyushyn, in which Kazimir Malevich, Vira Yermolaeva and El Lysytsky took part) and at the same time claims the role of "final series". Late and post-Soviet artistic manipulations with the "sun" as an iconic sign (the group "Amanita", Elena and Victor Vorobyov, numerous photographers of the Perestroika period and the 90s).

Nikita Kadan is one of the leading personas of Ukrainian art. He is a member of the artist group R.E.P. (Revolutionary Experimental Space) and founding member of Hudrada (Artistic Committee), a curatorial and activist collective. Nikita Kadan represented Ukraine at the Venice Biennale in 2015. Awards: Kazimir Malevich Prize, 2016; Future Generation Prize (special prize), 2014 Main Prize, PinchukArtCentre Prize, 2011; shortlisted for PinchukArtCentre Prize in 2009 and for Future Generation Prize in 2012. Works in public collections: Pinakothek der Moderne, Munich, M HKA – Museum of Contemporary Art Antwerp, mumok (Museum Moderner Kunst Stiftung Ludwig Wien), National Art Museum of Ukraine, Kyiv, Arsenal Gallery, Białystok, Military History Museum, Dresden, The Art Collection Telekom, Krasnoyarsk museum centre, Krasnoyarsk, The Kingdom of Belgium, Ministery of Foreign Affairs, FRAC Bretagne, Centro per l'arte contemporanea Luigi Pecci, Prato, Centre Pompidou.

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