Permanent Revolution. Ukrainian Modern Art

About

The first major presentation of the Ukrainian contemporary scene in Hungary is a special occasion to look into the vibrant art of a tense country, which is largely still in the blind spot of the European cultural area.
 

The Ukraine, which has been independent for nearly 30 years and has struggled with the phenomenon of oligarchic capitalism, is beyond the three major waves of mass demonstrations, two revolutions and the repression of the Crimea, a war-torn, neurotic and delayed decommissioning process in the eastern part of the country.

Since the 1980s, a new Ukrainian art has emerged, which has radically broken the direction of socialist realism and international cultural processes. The art genera- tion of the late 1980s and early 1990s was the most decisive phenomenon since the avant-garde of the early 20th century, which the Stalinist repression completely abolished in the 1930s. The post-Soviet identity search of the 1990s and early 2000s was gradually replaced by the need to reconsider political art. The importance of understanding social processes and the growing interest in activism has become more acute than ever before. All this coincided with a technological and global change that resulted in an artistically generating new generation of meaning, audience and purpose.

The Permanent Revolution seeks the answer to today's Ukrainian art in a historic moment in which the nation's main square is constructing "aesthetic" and "conceptual" barricades that could be attracted by the most prominent activist artists.