In times of conflict and uncertainty, art often serves as a beacon of hope and resilience, offering solace and insight amidst chaos. Despite the passage of a decade since the russian invasion in Ukraine, the cultural realm continues to flourish, opening exhibitions. Against the backdrop of war, the role of the museum curator becomes especially poignant, tasked not only with preserving cultural heritage but also with navigating the intricate landscape of human experience.
Natalia Matsenko, an art critic and a curator, talks to Kaltblut about the creative process of working with the Jam Factory on the exhibition “Our Years, Our Words, Our Losses, Our Searches, Our Us”. Natalia shares her views on how to make different experiences and memories coexist in one space, keeping a creative archive of the military artists alive and the power of hope.
KALTBLUT: What was the process of art curation like for you and the other two curators, Borys and Kateryna?
Natalia: Art curation is always a process full of challenges and unexpected adventures. When undertaken collaboratively, the process not only amplifies its challenges but also yields numerous benefits. Despite all the obstacles that are always on the way especially when it comes to a large-scale project, the biggest challenge was to work on the project about war during the ongoing war, which took quite a long period of time. It was challenging for Jam Factory Art Center as well, because it was the first big project at the moment of a long-awaited reopening with this reconstructed building, so a lot of processes were going on simultaneously.
At the same time, it was an interesting and creative process where we had a lot of discoveries in the frame of the topics we worked on, in the conversations we had during our work and in communications with the artists. It was a fruitful and helpful process in many senses.
We were even joking in the moments of difficulty: “Even if this exhibition will not be open, we are still happy that we can work on this project altogether because we’re discovering a lot of things about ourselves.” It brought us some sort of solace.
As the title of our exhibition suggests, it was a lot of work, not only with the working material itself but also with our states, positions, perspectives and somehow for all of us it became a process of development, of influencing each other, helping to discover something and share the knowledge with one another by supporting and discussing, bringing on a rich experience that I hope we managed to share in the final message of our exhibition.
KALTBLUT: What were some of the biggest challenges or obstacles you faced as a curator in this exhibition?
Natalia: In general, the idea of an exhibition was about art in times of war, in a situation when you don’t have any distance. When I was working on other exhibition projects abroad during the full-scale invasion, they were aimed to reach an international audience. It feels totally different compared to when you make an exhibition in the country that is currently in war for the people who are experiencing this at the same time together with you.
More tasks arise at the same time. You have to think conceptually over how to talk about this, the potential reaction and perception of the audience. During the first stage, one of the biggest challenges was and still remains the audience’s reaction to our project. It was not only how to bring your message to the public and make it clear, but also how to make this message not harmful, as we didn’t want to censor ourselves in this conversation. At the same time, we tried to make this exhibition not just something that hurts you once more but something that makes you feel the unity and makes you think about some things that are going on, that were going on in the past and that possibly can happen in the future.
It was important for us to showcase the bridge between times, as now we see the distance to the historical events fading. When experiencing events such as war, it’s crucial to share our own experiences, as well as to frame those of the artists and to consider the perspectives of the viewers.
There were other challenges as we, the three curators, were all overloaded during this period. Sometimes it was not so easy even to find a timeslot to just have a call all together. Still, we managed to find the time, meet on site, watch the process of curation unfold to the space that was prepared to be finally open. This struggle was a blessing, as it created a connection between me, Borys and Kateryna, that was more than just a common work, that hopefully brought a new friendship for years.
At the same time, it was challenging for the whole team of curators and the institution to interact with this beautiful but big and specific space that really needed a large amount of work, as we were not allowed to work with the original walls as it’s a historical building. We needed to think creatively and imagine a space as an architectural project with all these walls to form a labyrinth [exhibition architecture was created by architectural bureau ФОРМА].
It was an interesting part of the project to bounce ideas and discuss so many options of how we could do it to have a space where you have to create one more space or even multiple spaces inside of it. It proved to be both challenging and fascinating. We were so curious to see all these ideas and visualisations finally implemented on the physical level.
Sometimes, it would even differ from our expectations, as when you are on site in the installation process. You also have to take in mind some details that can vary with the space if you have it as a 3D or even a small physical model. Implementing all the routes of the made-up walls in the space made by architects from a model to the one on the physical level was an adventure.
KALTBLUT: What is special about your exhibition is how it transcends time and space, displaying the pieces from the 19th century till today. The exhibition is modern and impressive. How did you manage to make the art pieces flow in such a graceful way?
Natalia: In our exhibition, we are not only connecting different historical times, showing the timeline that is still continuing, but also combining various perspectives and scales. In the exhibition, we wanted to balance the right amount of connections between different works, between two levels, the so-called historical level and the lower level positioned as more of a private conversation on the same topics. For instance, there are Cossack weapons from the 16th century, and they are in dialogue with works of Vitaliy Kokhan, Katya Buchatska, and Open Group created during the full-scale invasion.
We have this point of view from bigger, historical narratives represented by some museum or famous art pieces. The absence of some of them, showcased by the gaps in our exhibition, is also a very important part of the message. It is combined with the private perspectives of personal experiences of war and what is going on with your life. We also have a lot of links between the works in different rooms for the attentive viewers. For example, there is a Portrait of John Object by Sasha Maslov, but we also have John Object’s own work in the exhibition — his Instagram diaries and audio with piano recordings from Bakhmut suburbs.
Pull quote: We were really trying not to make this exhibition re-traumatising.
Sometimes, it was extremely hard emotionally to work for ourselves, too. We were really trying not to make this exhibition re-traumatising. Yet, still, you feel that you have somehow re-traumatised yourself. It is essential for us to keep displaying the artworks of the artists that are serving now in the army. Many of the artists don’t have the opportunity to continue pursuing and making their art during these hard times, so the distance appears. We, as curators, have this opportunity at least to keep them in the artistic field and make their voices heard. Our purpose is to remind the people coming to our exhibition to not forget those artists and to keep this connection. It’s a general question: Would we be able to separate our war experience from our identity?
We can’t separate the war from ourselves, as it becomes a lifelong experience. We still don’t have post-war experience, so we cannot make any forecasts for the future. We cannot predict how it will go with all of us, if we survive.
It’s something that really becomes inseparable from yourself. It’s happening to the civilians, as well. Even if we are not witnessing the frontline or some atrocities, we are all having the same experience. Some are deeper into this, while some are more distant. We pondered on the influence the war has on art in our exhibition, and we still don’t have the answers.
Our exhibition is more of a conversation where we have questions than answers. As it’s ongoing, we are wondering: “How can it go? How is it influencing ourselves and others?”. Art is a very sensitive field, out of reach, that’s not happening in a direct way. During the war and also after the war, we have, and we will have a lot of pieces that maybe won’t be directly connected to it or won’t be directly describing it or showing it, but still, the experience of war will always be a part of anything we do.
Would we be able to separate our war experience from our identity?
KALTBLUT: How did this exhibition evolve for the community around since the opening of it?
Natalia: With the opening of the exhibition, we wanted to bring the message not only of our losses but of resilience and strength. When not only art exhibitions are opening, but the whole big art centre that was preparing to be open for a long time, finally opens amid war. For many people abroad, it was a surprise that cultural life is still happening in Ukraine and that someone is so brave and strong to do this. From the point of view of the institution, it was a brave gesture to make this in times like this, as it’s challenging and might be risky.
That collective resilience^ connections and support is one of the key things for us, not only in a cultural sense, but also in the sense of existential survival of our country and society.
I hope this exhibition can work not only as a discussion platform, but also as some kind of space for hope and belief in the power of art that is very questionable in times of war.
We all have a lot of doubts: “Does it make sense to make art now? Does it make sense to create exhibitions in times like this?”. I still don’t have an answer, but, somehow, the work on this exhibition gave me some kind of assurance.
They are among the audience as well as the artists. It became this instrument of support for our team and for everyone involved.
KALTBLUT: Can you tell me about a particularly interesting piece for you in the exhibition?
Natalia: One of the rooms in our exhibition is devoted to the city of Kherson, and we have there a kind of column called a “Capsule of Time”, created by Alexandr Zhukovsky. This piece represents a message of hope and resilience because this very fragile thing was made by Alexandr not being sure if he will even survive the occupation of Kherson. He wanted his pieces to live on in case something would happen to him, so he rolled up his paintings and hid them in this “capsule”. This particular art piece underlines the fragility of the archive. Alexandr and his pieces survived both the occupation and the big flood, so it’s a happy end and a sign of belief.
But another work in this room, it is connected with the founder of Polina Raiko foundation and Kherson Art Museum, Viacheslav Mashnytskyi, who disappeared during the occupation of Kherson. It was such a pity because Viacheslav was refusing to leave the city many times, and then he disappeared just a couple of weeks before the liberation of the city. Still, we do not lose hope that we will find Slava and he will be back. I believe that the life of this collection, the idea of the Contemporary Art Museum of Kherson that Slava founded, will live on anyway.
My biggest wish is that the people who see the exhibition feel it’s not only about pain, but about transformation and hope. We need hope as it connects all of us as individuals, and as a society, whenever or wherever we live. Not only Ukrainians, but others, can also appreciate and understand it on some level.
Follow @uncertainata on Instagram to keep up with her work and journey. Check out the @jamfactory.artcenter website if you want to find out more about the exhibition, which runs until 10th March.
Cover photo by @daniel.sadrowski
