In Lutsk, the giant “Cosmogony” by Pyotr Antipas was opened

For almost two years, the performance of the Horli artist continued at the Korsaki Museum of Contemporary Art in Volyn Peter Antipas. During this time, he worked on a picture that claimed a record for its size – “Cosmogonia”. To see it, guests from other Ukrainian cities came to Lutsk, tours were held. Some parts of the painting were shown at the Ukrainian House in Washington.

Another extraordinary detail about “Cosmogony” is the curator of the project. He became not a traditional representative of the world of modern art, but a businessman, co-owner of the VolWest Group of companies and the founder of the Museum Viktor Korsak.

A journalist attended the opening of the finished painting UP. Culture Anastasia Bolshakova. She tells what this project means for the citizens and for modern art.

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In Lutsk, the opening of “Cosmogonia” was really happy. Despite the cloudy weather and approaching rain, the townspeople rush to the shopping center. In 2018, the Korsaki Museum of Contemporary Art was built in one of its parts. Since then, it has been an important cultural center for the Luchans.

“And today some exhibition is opening, that there are so many cars here for the first time in a year?“, the taxi driver is surprised, entering the parking lot. I tell him about the opening of “Cosmogonia”, why he is visibly happy. Earlier, the man says, this had already happened when the project was shown for the first time. For some time, whole groups came to the city to look at the work of Petro Antip. And now the audience will go to Lutsk even more, thinks my driver.

Before the official opening of the painting, visitors will be presented with a large book, as it is called in the museum, a “philosophical treatise”. In it, the meanings of “Cosmogony” are explained – symbols are interpreted, Nietzsche is “discussed”, psychoanalytical terms are explained and much more.

A crowd has already gathered at the entrance to the hall, someone is looking for familiar faces among the local art crowd; photographers and reporters try to find favorable positions for long shots; guests carefully read the booklet with the description of the exhibition.

The scale of the presentation is growing every minute – although it is already time to start, the museum workers are still carrying additional chairs. The space vibrates with the number of voices. Two women nearby turn to look at the number of arrivals: “God, how many such young and creative people came here. Now they are also interested in all this – it is necessary!“. At this surprise, the noise of conversations subsides, waves of loud applause rise.

A full audience gathered for the presentation.

Natalia Mazepa

“The Korsaki Museum of Contemporary Art welcomes you and is happy for you! You became our co-authors and participants in such a historic event. You will definitely leave here different people!“, the presenter begins. Victor Korsak, director of the museum and the ideological founder of Cosmogony, speaks more at the presentation. For him, it had its own meaning – the search for a philosophical balance between good and evil. Korsak also had more down-to-earth plans for the project: “Cosmogony” was to become a method of popularizing Ukrainian culture for the world.

Just before the start of the full-scale invasion, Korsak announced the holding of an international biennial in Lutsk. On February 22, 2022, artists began to be invited to participate, and in two days a full-scale war began. However, he did not give up his intention to create something grandiose – from this, a picture the size of a warehouse appeared.

Presentation of the book “The Cosmogony of Good and Evil, or What Zarathustra Didn’t Know”

Natalia Mazepa

“The idea of ​​making a locomotive of Ukrainian art remained and we want to materialize it precisely through Cosmogony“, Viktor Korsak said.

Petro Antip hardly took part in the presentation. During these two years of constant work, he talked a lot with visitors and probably said everything he wanted to. As the artist said, for him this project was not a manifestation of a mystical “muse”, but a work that had to be done routinely, to follow a schedule.

On the walls near the entrance to the hall, they left papers with the interpretation of each symbol of the picture.

Natalia Mazepa

At the end of the small ceremonial part, the visitors go to the improvised stage – the table at which the authors of the project are sitting. Someone thanks for the high-profile project, some people have already lined up for autographs for the book. The organizers announce that the opening will take place very soon.

The picture was also accompanied by an installation as a decorative element.

Natalia Mazepa

Meanwhile, some people go up to the second floor. For them, the way to the colorful space hall is already familiar: go up the stairs, turn right, then one more time. It is there that you can see the premises of 5 thousand square meters and the Cosmogony.

“The museum was opened to create a space for reflection, discussion and the search for truth, where visitors will experience a unique aesthetic experience, gain inspiration and learn”– meanwhile, I read on the booklet for the exhibition.

Viewing platforms are built along the entire space, from which you can see small details of the painting.

Natalia Mazepa

It is noticeable in the bewitched eyes of the community. Many people come here not for the first time. During these two years, many events and presentations of individual parts of the painting took place here. So for them this grand final is the most important. More than two hundred spectators have gathered on the observation deck, they are carefully examining all the elements of Cosmogony, its smallest symbols. And also the warehouse, which still remains this room. Downstairs, wooden pallets store products from the mall’s stores, medicines and a small space for humanitarian aid to the army. Here the cosmic resonates with what we encounter every day.

On the walls near the entrance, a separate exhibition presented canvas sketches – exact measurements of each piece, resembling a puzzle. A separate exhibit was Peter Antip’s shoes, which were often joked about as a new art object. A little further on are photos from the creation of the picture: there were schoolchildren, politicians, cultural activists, couples in love, as well as Iryna Farion, Oksana Zabuzhko and many others.

The mayor of Lutsk expressed his congratulations.

Natalia Mazepa

And then comes the moment of discovery. The mayor of Lutsk, Ihor Polishchuk, speaks enthusiastically about him:

“You can often hear that art is out of time. But it is art that helps us to hold on, to survive the events that are currently ongoing in our country, to be filled and to help the Armed Forces of Ukraine. I wish that tens of thousands of Luchanians and guests of our city could touch this beautiful art“, he concluded happily.

In the end, the pathos of the discovery is somewhat lost by Petro Antip himself. The artist went out to the audience together with his grandson Timofey and succinctly thanked everyone. He joked that this “lesser artist” helped him create this work.

Peter Antipas with his grandson Timofey at the opening of the Cosmogony

Natalia Mazepa

Next, the “Cosmogonia” team was awarded the award of the National Register of Records of Ukraine for creating the largest painting. Its real area reaches 2086.5 square meters. After examining the picture a little, you can find symbols of Eastern religions and Christianity, the big explosion from which the universe was born – more than 700 elements in total. Everything is very mystical and confusing, the viewer is offered to make sense of this set to his own taste and level.

Announcement of “Cosmogonia” as the largest painting in Ukraine

Natalia Mazepa

This is how the 22-month-long performance ended. And after him, as Viktor Korsak says, the team is waiting for a break from constant work. But not for very long, because the museum plans to create replicas of individual parts of the painting and show them to the world. As large as the volumes of the gallery halls will allow.