Thomas Hirshhorn at the “Feeling of Security” exhibition in Kharkiv

For the first time, a Swiss artist came to Ukraine for the opening of the international art project “Sense of Security” in Kharkiv’s Yermilov Center Thomas Hirshhorn. He is a master of grandiose installations that remind us of the constant presence of disaster in the lives of people, communities and culture, a repeated participant of the Venice and other Biennales, a winner of the Marcel Duchamp Award. As part of the work created for Kharkiv “Energy = Yes! Quality = No!” For three days, Hirshhorn held creative workshops for representatives of the local creative community and ordinary spectators – fortunately, the Yermilov Center is also a certified bomb shelter.

Co-curator of the “Feeling of Security” project Tatiana Kochubinska emphasizes: “In 2022, Thomas Hirschhorn continued his long-term project “Art=Shelter”, in which he reflects on the meaning of art in times of war. The artist transformed an art space into a temporary shelter with lectures, workshops, discussions and artworks, in which he worked with by Ukrainian refugees, that is, art – it is a shelter that creates hope for a fulfilling life.”

At the opening of “Feeling of Security”, which, in addition to the exhibition in Kharkiv, consists of a series of “Bridges of Solidarity” events in 12 partner countries, Konstantin Doroshenko took from Thomas Hirshhorn interview for UP.

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About your participation in the Manifesta biennial in St. Petersburg in 2014, in an interview with art critic Valery Ledeniov, you said: “My position here is far from favorable, and my conscience is not clear.” And yet you did not support the boycott of this event, which was called for by international art authorities after the annexation of Crimea by Russia, in particular, the co-curator of Manifesta 2004 in San Sebastian, Marta Kuzma.

Do you understand today that you took part in creating a civilized decoration of the Russian regime? Many of the Russian artists, who also accepted this instrumentalization by the authorities, have now fled their country – the Kremlin is no longer interested in their services, as well as in the screen of cultural openness.

No, I did not do such decorating. In my work “Slice” in the State Hermitage, which represented a destroyed building, on the walls of apartments of which, very high, there were original works of art – painting, graphics, I spoke about the modern world. And it was precisely about the understanding that cultural assets are not a safeguard against human barbarism, but they are important.

You know, there’s always a certain conflict between the work of art itself and what the journalists want the artists to say. For example, about the boycott. But I’m not a journalist. That was my artistic response to the situation in 2014 at Manifesta. As the last stage of art history in the shaky world of global crises.

Don’t you think your work is “Energy = Yes! Quality = No!” just closer to journalism and activism?

It is close to activism because I am an activist in my practice. I have always been an activist in my artwork. I need to be an activist as an artist. But this is not journalism at all. Because it’s not just a statement, a description of the moment, it’s what we do with the audience that comes, we discuss energy versus quality. Energy is universal, it is something we can share that brings change. My work in Kharkiv is a call for active action and thinking, an extraordinary attitude to what is happening.

Tetyana Kochubinska, co-curator of the “Feeling of Security” project, tells the audience about Thomas Hirshhorn’s work “Energy = Yes! Quality = No!”

Yermilov Center

Compared to the installation in St. Petersburg, your work in Kharkiv is quite minimalist – it is just a banner with an interesting slogan. Why such a difference in visuality? Is it because of lack of resources?

As an artist, I create very different works. For example, I make small collages. In Kharkiv, a master class is also part of my work. Live communication with Ukrainian artists and viewers is important to me, it makes this work complete.

“Sense of Security” is a group and international exhibition, like Manifesta, but in a much smaller space. Of course, it is always important to adapt the work to the space.

What is more important for you – to solve your own specific artistic problem or to touch on political aspects?

Well, first I try to solve my problem as an artist, but this is not a category of importance, because I believe or hope that my artistic practice is also part of the problem of the world. With my works, I confirm the situation as it really is.

Thomas Hirschhorn also held a public lecture on the interaction of art in classical exhibition and digital spaces.

Yermilov Center

Has the massive Russian aggression against Ukraine changed your view of these two countries?

Of course, I have changed and learned a new understanding of what is happening in the world. Like, I think, more or less everyone, maybe except the Ukrainians themselves, because they knew it before. They knew what Russia was better than I or others, but I developed my own vision. This is in my work in Kharkiv, but in the installation “Slice” at Manifesta in 2014, something important was also recorded that I understood.

Thomas Hirshhorn held art workshops in Kharkiv for three days.

Yermilov Center

In 2022, at the height of the bombings and blackouts in Ukraine, I participated in an artistic round table in Berlin. My panel was moderated by an art critic from Switzerland, your home country.

Trying to show attention to the person from Ukraine, he told me: “We also have problems from this terrible war – our electricity has become more expensive.” In your opinion, has Switzerland’s perspective on the level of the Russian threat changed over the years, or are citizens still more concerned about energy prices?

First of all, when I say energy, I mean the energy of necessity, the energy of people, not electrical energy. Yes, I am Swiss, but I have lived in Paris for 40 years. So I don’t know too much about the current mood in Switzerland. However, one of the reasons why I left this country was my disagreement with the fact that the thinking of the majority of Swiss people is focused on a very narrow range of issues.