:wilted_flower::military_helmet::lock_with_ink_pen:
Current exhibition
Overview
Voloshyn Gallery presents the exhibition ":wilted_flower::military_helmet::lock_with_ink_pen:" a solo project by Maksym Khodak at the Kyiv gallery.
The artist's practice focuses on exploring history, internet culture, and cinema through the lens of contemporary political circumstances. With a critical perspective, he reinterprets the Soviet legacy in the post-Soviet conditions of his country. The exhibition will feature works created in 2023-2024, including sculptures and graphic works.
A drone is hovering in the sky of the European capital; its gaze is focused on the Monument in honor of the soldiers of the Soviet Army (Heldendenkmal der Roten Armee). It’s Vienna — Schwarzenbergplatz, 1010. Roses, daisies, carnations, tulips, ribbons, and polythene — this is the image in the camera lens. By reducing the focal length, the drone will capture the monument right after the 9 May celebration. A more distant view allows us to discern the function of the images created by art that tries to capture the reality of war.
The purpose of the World War II monument is to tell the story of war and victory by means of art. When the war returned to us, the monument became a site where government-funded cultures clashed — grassroots initiatives, anti-war, pro-Russian. Doves of peace, altar lamps with angels, walls repainted in the colours of national flags and inscriptions on cardboard are joining the battle.
Godard wrote about culture as a rule — a cigarette, a T-shirt, television, and about art as an exception — Antonioni, Gershwin, Flaubert. To close the warfare on the territory of art seems to be the only possible way to make it an exception. But art is a free citizen, and it made its own decision — to go to war. From a site of remembrance, the monument has become a battlefield of art. Sculpture beats drawing, video ricochets stone plates. But have we enabled art to fulfill its political ambitions? It seems that it got framed in convenient "political themes" from the curatorial texts, of any biennial, in order to protect ourselves from the transformative potential of art.
One should expect artists to depict flowers. It is always nice to see this beauty as an object that you can buy, frame and hang on your wall. Art turns a temporary bloom into an eternal one — just try to kill the image of a flower. It will remain here, unaffected by the changes of seasons or political systems.
However, flowers can no longer be a simple gift of beauty from nature. Daisies and carnations can easily become the agents of intelligence services. The inscription ‘Botschaft’ (Germ. ‘embassy’) on a ribbon in the middle of a bouquet of innocent flowers is perhaps a mark of honor to a cultural agent — the Soviet monument in the centre of the European capital.
*The title of the exhibition consists of three emojis: a wilted rose, a military helmet, and a lock with an ink pen. Each of these symbols reveals key aspects of the project concept. The wilted rose reflects the emotional aspect of memory associated with the lost past. The military helmet represents military power, historical context, and the impact of past conflicts on modern life. The lock with an ink pen symbolizes literature and censorship, emphasizing the control over creativity in the context of limited freedom of speech, as well as the impact of the digital age, where the Internet industry and information are locked in new forms of communication and control. These emojis form a contemporary visual language through which the author conveys his vision of the images of the Soviet heritage and its impact on the present.
Exhibition Opening: Friday, August 31, 2024, from 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM
Exhibition Dates: August 31 – October 6, 2024
Gallery Hours: Wednesday–Sunday, 11:00 AM to 6:00 PM
Address: 13 Tereshchenkivska St, Kyiv, 01004
Exhibition Dates: August 31 – October 6, 2024
Gallery Hours: Wednesday–Sunday, 11:00 AM to 6:00 PM
Address: 13 Tereshchenkivska St, Kyiv, 01004
About the Artist
Maksym Khodak (b. 2001, Bila Tserkva) is an artist born and raised in Ukraine. Works and study between Kyiv and Vienna. He has studied Contemporary Arts at the Kyiv Academy of Media Arts. Now he continues his study at BA TransArts in University of Applied Arts Vienna (die Angewandte). In 2021 received the Prince Claus Seed Award. Maksym Khodak was shortlisted artist for the PinchukArtCentre Prize 2022.
His works have been featured in several solo and group exhibitions, including "Ukrainian Paradise" at PinchukArtCentre (Kyiv, Ukraine), "Coexistence with Darkness" at Mystetskyi Arsenal (Kyiv, Ukraine), the National Short Film Competition of the 52nd Molodist International Film Festival (Kyiv, Ukraine), "United" at PinchukArtCentre (Kyiv, Ukraine), "IYou cannot spell discourse without disco" at Galerija Nova (Zagreb, Croatia), "Battle Cry" at Galerie Nord | Kunstverein Tiergarten (Berlin, Germany), "Gotta Decide Today" at Voloshyn Gallery (Kyiv, Ukraine), and others.