February 24, 2025
Bohemian National Hall
321 East 73RD Street, New York City, NY 10021
REVERBERATION
UKRAINIAN ARTISTS GROUP SHOW
The REVERBERATION is a multimedia group show featuring the works of 10 contemporary Ukrainian artists. With the support of the Consulate General of the Czech Republic and the Consulate General of Ukraine in New York, the art show provides a poignant and impactful reflection on the ongoing toll of war, as it marks the third anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
What is “reverberation”? It is an acoustic phenomenon of echoes from the same sound source which is reflected from the walls at the closed space. The artistic and aesthetic impression created by reverberation depends on the context and is determined in the higher parts of the human brain. Core memories are kept with Visuals and Sounds, but what will we remember after the end of the war? How will we evaluate this experience and share it with the further generations?
War in Ukraine began in 2014 with Russia's annexation of Crimea and its support for separatist movements in eastern part of Ukraine with the further dramatical escalation on February 24, 2022, when Russia launched a full-scale invasion. The Russian invasion caused widespread destruction across the country, including the devastation of cities, infrastructure, and homes, which continues up today. Due to the latest report of The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) a total of 40,838 civilian casualties verified as of December 31, 2024. The country has lost over 43,000 soldiers... Being supported by its’ allies with weapons, finance, technology and aid Ukraine continues its fight for freedom being actually capsulated with its pain and isolated from the global development and growth.
Artists being a part of this capsule are the most sensitive, fragile and intelligent part of the society who reflect deeply to the challenge fate, daily deaths, war crimes, false propaganda and injustice.
The REVERBERATION group show of prominent Ukrainian artists represent deep research of the memory: color, shape, form, texture, sound. The visibility of emotions caused by a certain moment, and, unfortunately, the moments of destruction and death.
Sadness, a sculpture by Julia Beliaeva visualize a kid staring on nowhere, in despair. This artwork captures a 6-y.o. boy who brought the canned foods to his mother's grave in the yard of their house in Bucha, Ukraine. His 34 y.o. mother died in the hideout due to the lack of food and medicines, her three kids were there too. The image of this boy and a story behind has spread all over the world after the Associated Press journalists shared it in media. The town of Bucha of Kyiv district faced the cruelest war crimes committed by the Russian forces to the civilians. After the de-occupation of Bucha district in April 2022, 1.190 bodies of dead civilians were found. Russian propaganda declined all the evidences and universally declared these facts as “fakes”.
6 graphic artworks courtesy to the documentary THE BLUE SWEATER WITH A YELLOW HOLE by Tetiana Khodakivska and the artist Alevtina Kakhidze present the true stories collected from kids during their trip to de-occupied territories of Kherson, southern part of Ukraine in summer 2023. The kids, someone already orphaned by the war or collected from families, stayed in filtration camps aimed to
“re-educate Ukrainian children” and then adopt them to the Russian families. Each painting is dedicated to one’s personal story that is fixed in the documentary, showing fear, mental torment, punishments, isolation and military training.
The documentary photos in the show are presented by the award-winning Ukrainian photographers Maxim Dondiuk and Oleksandr Glyadelov who had been fixing war crimes and frontline destruction in Ukraine since 2014.
Lack of Presence. 7.07.22 is a series of photo-collages authored by professor Sergei Sviatchenko (Denmark) and Gennadiy Kozub, founder of BIRUCHIY international art residency, Ukraine. It is an attempt to deconstruct the images of war, create a new artistic reality and show the importance of sensual flashes that feed our metaphorical unity. The photos used are from Irpin, Ukraine. Fragments of destruction are combined into new visual symbols, referring us to the theme of the apocalypse, where feelings of tension and destruction acquire a new socio-metaphorical meaning and demonstrate the search for establishing boundaries between the personal, subconscious and the present.
Working with a theme of time and memory in the series “Showpieces” Vlada Ralko demonstrates ex-Soviet Union symbols combined with the pieces of human and animal bodies showing the path of achieving “big goals” through war and the destruction of bodies themselves or by violence caused by these symbols.
The fragility of time, life, and the revision of core values are now deeply felt by every Ukrainian. Yuri Koval's porcelain tea bowls, removed from the context of reality, poignantly reflect this sentiment. Meanwhile, the depiction of thunder and lightning illuminating the night sky by Alina Yakubenko underscores a profound sense of anxiety and uncertainty.
Something we keep inside with the closed eyes after the image or action is no more exists, gone or disappeared is called “afterimage”. It is something that etched into our personal and collective memory. This research of memory reflection and representation of light on canvas by Artem Volokitin is shown in his same-named Afterimage diptych.
Sound being one of the key senses of perception and understanding of the world in the new reality plays a significant role. Sirens — warn, protect, push to make decisions and act. Explosions — deafen, frighten, identify the awareness of death nearby. Silence, cry, nature…all these are surrounded us, but in grief and losses of war all these sounds feel extra sensitive and different. The immersive music experience joining nature sounds with the live piano, harp, cello and violin is created especially for the REVERBERATION art show by the musician Angelina Stati. Born in a moment the music performance aims to stress sound importance, life, feeling and trust. Sound can motivate, heal, and rebirth. It can give hope for peace and victory.
Participants: Julia Beliaeva, Maxim Dondiuk, Oleksandr Glyadelov, Alevtina Kakhidze, Yuri Koval, Gennadiy Kozub, Vlada Ralko, Sergei Sviatchenko, Artem Volokitin, Alina Yakubenko.
author of the text, curator, Director of BIRUCHIY international art residency, Founder of the “Ukrainian Contemporary Art Platform” (USA), author of the book Wartime Posters 2022-2023
Partnership: The Lions Talent Management Company NY, NGO “Firefighters for Peace, Inc.”, MishMash Catering, the Brave selections / ARTWINE.
