 | Mon -Thu: from 9 a.m. to 6.15 p.m. |
 | 60 Velyka Perspektyvna St., 25006, Kropyvnytskyi, Ukraine |
 |
The cultural-artistic exhibition project «Military Field ART»
The solemn presentation of the cultural and artistic exhibition project «Military Field ART» was hosted in the regional art museum on 23th of October in 2018, which became another eloquent reflection and a reminder of the modern Ukrainian-Russian war.
Military subjects have always been one of the priority directions in the work of our museum as an indispensable and important component of not only artistic and aesthetic, but also patriotic education, the importance of which cannot be overemphasized in the conditions of the state and spiritual revival of the Ukrainian nation. But before the modern Russian-Ukrainian war, exhibitions and other events of a corresponding thematic direction concerned mostly the events of the Second World War, which, however, even in peaceful times, caused a lot of debate and controversy by representatives of various political camps.
The Revolution of Dignity and military intervention by the Moscow Horde not only deepened the gap between the assessment of the events of that time but also radically changed the historical and political accents in general. Instead of the toothless Soviet Little Russia, radical Ukraine was emerging with a modern, capable army and a clear understanding of who is the main ancestral enemy. The war not only became a real shock to many of our compatriots, provoking a lot of mental disorders, heart attacks, strokes and also awakened the spittle Cossack code of Ukrainians, forcing them to remember whose descendants we are and what we are obliged to do. As never before the events of the national liberation struggle of the Ukrainian people at all its stages became relevant, in particular the Ukrainian Revolution of 1917-1921, in which you can see a lot in common with our present.
Therefore, it is quite logical that the regional art museum, being at the forefront of the modern ideological front, conducts a very active exhibition activity aimed at the destruction of the Horde myths about the defenders of Ukraine, as "fascists", "punishers", etc., fostering respect and respect to people whose example of sacrifice and patriotism must encourage the younger generation to be worthy of followers of the renowned Cossack family.
This is the purpose pursued by resonance exhibition projects, which had a crazy demand among the nationally conscious part of Ukrainian society. Such were, in particular, mobile exhibitions from the series «Heroes never die!», dedicated to the fellow countrymen who died on Donbass - our colleague, museum historian Viktor Golom and another undisputed member of our museum family Volodymyr Stepanko. A series of these exhibitions was held, first of all - in educational institutions of the city and region. And demand for them only increases, taking into account the numerous orders made by educators and even representatives of local authorities. Additionally, our museum is one of the first to honor the deceased hero, a true Cossack and patriot Viktor Goloy with the exhibition «Heroes never die!», expanded on 26th of September in 2014 on the eve of his birthday.
The traveling exhibition project "Treasures of the pedigree of Ukraine was hosted in 2015 - an evacuated collection" of women's clothing of Slobozhanschyna at the end of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, rescued by the soldier of «Aidar» battalion, Mykola Pavlyuchenko, as a reminder of the once Ukrainian Donbass, which became Soviet after the planned genocide of the Ukrainian people of 1932-1933 and the settlement of the Russian villagers who had been devastated by the famine of Ukrainian villages. Also, the big cities were attracted to another exhibition project «Kirovograd paratroopers – the defenders of Ukraine», to commemorate the Day of Highly-formed Armed Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
The photo of the soldiers who participated in the war in eastern Ukraine from April 2014 to September 2015 were presented at the exhibition «Humble faces», dedicated to the Day of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. The authors of the photo were the soldiers of the 3rd separate special-purpose regiment and the 42nd Battalion of Territorial Defense of the Kirovograd region (from November 2014 - 42nd separate motorized infantry battalion of the 57th individual motorized infantry brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine).
The excellent example of fruitful cooperation with representatives of the Ukrainian volunteer movement, in this case - with the Volunteer Coordination Center of Alexandria, was the opened exhibition on the eve of the Day of the Protection of the Blessed Virgin and the Day of Ukrainian Cossacks «Defenders of Ukraine under the Protection of the Mother of God», which impressed of its versatility, because on the unique photographs, examples of sacred art, military paraphernalia, etc. were presented.
The record holder in terms of exhibitions of this thematic direction was 2016, when the visitors of the museum were able to touch the problems of modern war thanks to the exhibition «Zero frontier of the border» of the Lithuanian volunteer from Kiev, painter Beaty Kurkul, opened on 27th of May on the eve of the Border Guard Day of Ukraine. In the midst of the summer, the museum presented a very important in terms of understanding the present, not the mythical Slavic fraternity exhibition «Belarusians with Ukraine in the heart», which became a joint exhibition project of Ukrainian and Belarusian artists, devoted to events in the East of Ukraine and memory of the dead volunteers of the Belarusian tactical group Vitaliy Tylyzhenko – «Keksa» and Alesya Cherkashina – «Taras» who gave their lives for the independence of Ukraine in the summer of 2015. The beginning of September impressed with the exhibition «Mariupol on the brink» of Ukrainian volunteers from Donbass, which in itself is very important and inspires hope. And Mariupol itself, at the level of Donetsk airport and other important strategic objects, became a symbol of the invincibility of the Ukrainian Donbass.
The art gallery of Peter Ossovsky "The World and the Fatherland", a social multimedia project-photo exhibition "Winners" devoted to veterans of the war on the Donbass living with dentures, did not leave anyone indifferent, it was opened on 10th of December in 2016, in the department of the museum, demonstrating to others not only invincible Cossack spirit, but also a successful example of adaptation to a peaceful life. Additionally, this unique project, before joining Kropivnitsky, was first presented in February 2016 in Kyiv and then visited Dnipro, Zaporozhye, Kherson, Kharkiv, Ivano-Frankivsk, Khmelnytsky, Cherkasy, the capital of the European Union of Brussels and the Canadian Toronto.
A lot of emotions aroused the volunteer social project - "If Not War", presented on 29th of April in 2017, which grew up on the bare enthusiasm of Ukrainian women - volunteers, which is very symbolic, because in Ukraine the position of women-guardians, women of Cossacks with an active civic position has always been diametrically opposed to the position of a slavery women in Asiatic Muscovy. By the end of 2016, the project has grown into a large-scale photo exhibition, divided into eight thematic blocs devoted to love, which helps to survive in the war and not fall into depression and those couples, which, paradoxically, have united precisely the wise women and girls who defend the country on an equal footing with men (until March 8), fighters with completely non-military professions who, however, went volunteers to defend their homeland, becoming true military professionals, women mothers (to the Mother's Day), the youngest participants in the war (to the Day of Youth), who died during the Ilovaya tragedy its anniversary, foreigners legionaries (Day of Peace), unknown heroes from different regions of our country to the Day of Defender of Ukraine.
A special feature was the photo project "Shores of the Seversky Donets", a member of the National Union of Photo Artists of Ukraine Serhiy Zholonko, who introduced the thistle with the realities of the territory of the front zone of the Luhansk region, making a certain cut of life in conditions of war and peace, the revival of cities and villages after active military actions.
And here is another step in this direction - the opening of the cultural and artistic project "Military Field ART", which presents more than 300 exhibits, among which are the eloquent echoes of the modern war in the east: munitions boxes, grenade launchers, shells, fragments of shells, samples of small arms, helmets, camouflage gowns, camouflage net, etc. It`s true, that they are not presented in a completely customary way for us, but in the form of art objects, after the Ukrainian craftsmen worked on them, changing their appearance in an original way. And in this somewhat frivolous treatment of the terrible attributes of the war, a very important symbolic meaning, a peculiar ode to life, which under all circumstances still triumphs over death, is instructed not to despair in all of us, but on the contrary, in spite of the terrible psychological pressure and tension, horror and the devastating consequences of the war, move forward with the positive and faith for the better.
But there is no need to fall into the other extreme - the romanticism of the war, since no matter how beautiful and original exhibits were presented, it is always necessary to remember that the war is a huge crime, which is not forgiveness.
Therefore, this kind of exhibition is not only a kind of chronicle of our turbulent present, but also an occasion to once again reflect on what is happening in the country and its place and role in a newly emerging Ukrainian society.
The exhibition is also interesting in terms of a variety of techniques for the execution of works, installations, etc. This is a decorative painting, wickerwork, wood carvings, ceramics, embroidery, weaving, patchwork, straw-making, whose authors are often masters of the region in which the project is presented. His active members were the masters of the Steppe Hellas - Valentina Dobrovolskaya (weaving), Dmitry Kudrya (carving on wood), Irina Kudrevich (pectin), Larysa Garbuzenko (painting), Eugene Vasilevsky (metal plastic), Larysa Zorina (painting), Sergey Maruschak (carving), Volodymyr Krutous (miniatures). Additionally, within the framework of the exhibition, there are usually numerous master classes devoted to various types of folk art for children, veterans of the modern war on the Donbass, members of their families, vulnerable groups of the population, etc.
A "baptized father" and curator of the project was sergeant of the police regiment of the Poltava MIA "Kyiv" Pavlo Rotar. During his service in the combat zone, he began to collect used manifestations of the war, bringing them during each rotation to Kiev, establishing contacts with artists and masters of decorative arts, offering cooperation. Thus, an interesting cultural-artistic exhibition project "Military Field ART" was born, which, traveling to Ukraine, 34 times presented its exhibition, having finally visited the city whose soldiers proved to be true heroes in the modern war on Donbas.
Oleg Yurchenko – The Head of the Department of Tourist Information and Information Work of the Kirovograd Regional Art Museum
 | Mon -Thu: from 9 a.m. to 6.15 p.m. |
 | 60 Velyka Perspektyvna St., 25006, Kropyvnytskyi, Ukraine |