Malevich, Ekster and others: an exhibition of the Ukrainian avant-garde of the 1900s-1930s opened in Cologne. PHOTO

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An exhibition of Ukrainian modernism of 1900-1930 was opened in one of the world’s most famous museums of modern art – the Ludwig Museum in Cologne (Germany). It takes place as part of the “Here and Now” series, which rethinks controversial topics through contemporary art and combines lectures, excursions, performances, master classes and other events. Read UP.Culture in Telegram. The basis of the exhibition is a collection of about 80 paintings and works on paper under the tentative title “In the epicenter of the storm: Modernism in Ukraine, 1900-1930s”. Before showing it in Cologne , the exhibition was presented at the Thyssen-Bornemisza National Museum in Madrid. The exhibition was formed by exhibits from the National Art Museum of Ukraine and the Museum of Theater, Music and Cinema of Ukraine. Here, in particular, you can see the works of such artists as Oleksandr Arkhipenko, Oleksandr Bogomazov, Mykhailo Boychuk, Volodymyr Boychuk, Oleksandr Khvostenko-Khvostov, Oleksandra Ekster, Vasyl Ermilov, Boris Kozarev, Kazimir Malevich, Vadym Meller, Viktor Palmov, Anatol Petrytskyi. The collection is supervised by curators Kostyantyn Akinsha, Katya Denisova and Olena Kashuba-Volvach. The basis of the exposition is a collection of about 80 you work. Photo courtesy of the Ludwig Museum “We are happy that for the first time, thanks to the exhibition, we can show Ukrainian modern art. Full of power, wonderful creations […] were taken out of the country during the hostilities. We stand in solidarity with our colleagues and the Ukrainian people,” says the deputy director of the Ludwig Museum, Rita Kersting, who became the main initiator of the exhibition on behalf of the Cologne museum. For the exhibition in Cologne, works from private collections and the Ludwig Museum’s fund were added to the exposition. Also at the invitation of the Museum’s curator Ludwig Yulia Berdiyarova, it was complemented by an installation by artist Daria Koltsova from Kharkiv. The exhibition was complemented by an installation by artist Daria Koltsova from Kharkiv. Photo courtesy of the Ludwig Museum “The exhibition at the Ludwig Museum in Cologne is presented under a different name – “Here and Now. Ukrainian Modernism 1900-1930s and Daria Koltsova”. The series of exhibitions “Here and Now” rethinks controversial topics through contemporary art. The previous exhibition from this series was about the history of Germany’s colonial past and how it is represented in the history of the collection,” said UP.Kultura about the difference between the exhibition in Cologne and the one in Madrid, Yulia Berdiyarov. According to her, for this series, Daria Koltsova specially made a monumental work with glass called Tessellated. It depicts the famous Kharkiv Derzhprom building, which was erected in 1928 and became a symbol of the flourishing of modern culture and at the same time Soviet repression. In Mystkina’s work, the three-dimensional architecture of the recognizable building is reduced to a dark silhouette, reminding of the persecution that was hiding behind this facade. Daria Koltsova, Tessellated (2023). Photo courtesy of the Ludwig Museum. As for works from the collection of the Ludwig Museum, 12 of them were added to the exhibition: these are the works of Oleksandr Arkhipenko, Kazimir Malevich, Oleksandr Bogomazov, Oleksandra Ekster, Vasyl Yermilov, Volodymyr Burlyuk and Volodymyr Baranov-Rossine.Berdiyarova emphasizes that together with the deputy director Rita Kersting, they tried to make the exhibition as closely related to the city of Cologne as possible. “Work from the collection of the Kanatka museum” (1928) by Vasyl Yermilov depicts a wall newspaper that Yermilov designed specifically for the Ukrainian section of the Soviet pavilion at the exhibition of the press (Die Pressa) in Cologne in 1928. We highlighted this story in the space of the exhibition, and accompanied it with archival materials in the showcases and texts that emphasize the participation of a group of Ukrainian artists in the development of designs for the exhibition – Volodymyr Meller, Boris Kosarev and Vasyl Yermilov,” she said. Vasyl Yermilov, “Kanataka” (1928). Photo courtesy of the Ludwig Museum Other works included include a graphic by Alexandra Ekster, which belongs to the collection of the University of Cologne and was found by the curator while researching local collections. According to Berdiyarova, the Ukrainian identity of artists and the process of Ukraine’s return of art, which for years was positioned in the world as “Soviet”, is emphasized by the very name of the exhibition, and even the location of the works in the exposition. “The main goal was also to show that artists from Ukraine were part of pan-European cultural processes. That is why the viewer is first met with works from the collection of the Ludwig Museum – those that were present in the permanent exhibition and are familiar to the viewer,” she added. Photo courtesy of the Ludwig Museum The curator says that this educational work will not end after the exhibition ends: “After the exhibition Volodymyr Baranov-Rossiné will be placed on an empty wall where there used to be a large text about the Russian avant-garde. This white wall, after the text has been painted over, was very symbolic.” Berdiarova sees that interest in Ukrainian art in Europe is only growing, “because more and more powerful exhibitions are appearing.” “In order to once again remind the audience at what cost these works arrived in Cologne and at what cost Ukraine defends its independence and identity, there is also a video of interviews with museum workers from Ukraine in the exhibition space,” the curator emphasizes. The exhibition will be open until September 24. Photo courtesy of the Ludwig Museum The exhibition “Here and Now. Ukrainian Modernism 1900-1930s and Daria Koltsov” at the Ludwig Museum in Cologne will run until September 24, 2023. Entry is free for temporarily displaced persons from Ukraine. Read also: “The sculpture of a pregnant woman will remind me of the bodies of migrants from Ukraine” – artist Maria Kulikovska

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