27.06.2024

The exhibition "Boundaries of the Iron Earth" brings together the creative energies of three artists. A metal sculpture by Kostyantyn Synytskyi, with its sharp edges that are designed to injure, is adjacent to drawings and multimedia works by Serhii Sabakar, which, despite their distancing, confront the viewer with a direct act/gesture of violence.

Taras Kovach's graphic pages, which are covered with printed imprints of rusty metal, form a loop around the exhibition's leitmotif.

The three-dimensional metaphor facilitates a multi-level reading of both the general idea of the exhibition and the visual works presented there. At the same time, it points to the resilience of the Ukrainian spirit and the scope of our endurance as a country in the process of an existential struggle for identity.

The exhibition explores the nature of the public protest movement and the effectiveness of resistance in the face of external aggression. It focuses on the interaction between the individual and society and reflects on ways to overcome their mutual alienation.

Most of the works were created in the last few years, some of them were created before 2014. However, the suggestive influence of the war is reflected in their associative perception. For example, the "iron land" torn by war is presented in Serhiy Sabakar's drawings as a post-apocalyptic landscape. The found iron objects used for printing by Taras Kovach seem to "engrave" the paper surface with traces of tank tracks. The colour scheme and semi-abstract shapes of the depicted elements are reminiscent of military camouflage. This land is inhabited by paradoxical, mostly depersonalised creatures by Kostiantyn Synytskyi, who are engaged in a silent, secretive, endless dialogue with themselves.
At the same time, they pose questions to the viewer: how to remain human in an era of dehumanisation, how to preserve oneself and one's identity in a world of uncertainty and absurdity, how to defend freedom and the country in a time of war.
Project Curator: Anton Kolomiiets, junior researcher at the MARI of the NAA of Ukraine, artillerist with the 241st Artillery Brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Co-curator: Maryna Streltsova, Research Fellow at Kunsthalle Rostock.
The exhibition will last until 2 July 2024 as part of the Art-A-Art project.MARI of the NAA of UkraineKyiv, 18-d Yevhenia Konovaltsia St.