Although Brussels is only three hours away from Kyiv by plane, Ukrainians and Belgians don't seem to know much about each other's culture. But now a contemporary art exchange may help fill that knowledge gap.
One of the main focuses of the Belgian Embassy in Ukraine and Ambassador Luc Jacobs is introducing Belgian art to Ukrainians and presenting modern Ukrainian artists in Belgium.
Jacobs calls such an exchange “cultural diplomacy” and believes that the language of art will build understanding between Belgium and Ukraine, promote critical thinking and creative dissent.
“It is about projecting a message on what modern Ukraine and Belgium stand for, as free, open, tolerant and future-oriented, confident societies,” Jacobs says.
Some Belgian artists have moved to Ukraine in search of inspiration and new ideas. One of them is Steve Schepens, a Belgian contemporary artist who lives alternately in Berlin and Lviv. He is known in Ukraine for his Club La Cabane artwork, a sculpture made of a wooden shed found in the village of Muzychi nearly 40 kilometers west of Kyiv, presented in Lviv’s Detenpyla art gallery in September.
On Nov. 15, when the King’s Feast holiday is celebrated in Belgium, Schepens will present his newest artwork “The Queen of Belgium” in Ukraine. Schepens’ piece is edible and is made of Belgian chocolate and Ukrainian beetroot.
“This harmonic fusion is to be seen as artistic and political statement,” reads the press release.
The artistic ties between Belgium and Ukraine go way back. Contemporary Ukrainian artists Nikita Kadan and Sergey Bratkov are quite famous in Belgium. Bratkov’s works are exhibited in MHKA, the museum of contemporary art in Antwerp, and in the Transit art gallery in Mechelen.
Currently, the Trasit gallery is exhibiting six of Bratkov’s artworks and 16 pieces by Kadan. Bert de Leenheer, gallery’s director, says that “Bratkov and Kadan have a very contemporary view on what is happening in Ukraine. They both have unique ways of expressing their ideas” adding that that the gallery plans to work with more artists from Lviv and Kyiv.
The exchange is two-way. In the recent years many Belgian artists have exhibited their works in Ukraine, including Jan Fabre, Mehdi-Georges Lahlou, Pascale Marthine Tayou, and photographer Jim Sumkay.
Leonora Yanko, the director of Yakov Hreter art center in Kyiv, has organized a series of Ukrainian art exhibitions abroad. She says that Ukraine’s art remains unfamiliar to Belgians, as well as to other Europeans.
Ambassador Jacobs shares her views.
“The Ukrainian art scene is relatively unknown to the wider public in Belgium, so is in itself somewhat ‘exotic,’ and it stimulates curiosity among the public,” he says.
Earlier in February Yanko and her colleague Lera Litvinova were coordinators of an international cultural project called “Alternative. Ukraine – Reality and Future,” which was presented in Brussels and supported by the Flemish Parliament, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Flanders and the Ukrainian Embassy in Belgium.
The exhibition aimed to present different aspects of life in modern Ukraine and was of great interest to Belgians, Yanko says.
“Nearly 100 people were visiting it daily,” she says, adding that many of them wrote words of gratitude and admiration on Yanko’s personal Facebook page even months after the exhibition was over. “Belgians definitely didn’t expect that contemporary Ukrainian art would be of such high quality.”
Nearly 40 modern Ukrainian artists were exhibited, and some artworks were sold on the day of exhibition’s opening, Yanko says.
“Taras Shevchenko portrait by Valeriy Franchuk went for €10,000, and we didn’t even expect that anybody would buy it – but the piece was sold,” she says.
Works by Oleg Radvan, Aleksey Kulakov, Natalia Papirna, Lera Litvinova and Leonid Zaborowsky were popular with the public in Brussels. Many works were sold at prices that varied from €600 to €10,000. War scenes and landscapes were the most popular subjects for Belgians, Yanko recalls.
“The Belgian public only knows one side of Ukraine (the news media tend to focus on the war and crises) but it is open to knowing other aspects,” Ambassador Jacobs says.
Yanko is now preparing a new exhibition in Belgium to show another side of Ukraine that “doesn’t only have crisis and war, but also has deep spirituality.”
“Promoting our (Ukrainian and Belgian) artists is about promoting a refreshing vision of our countries. It’s about allowing new forms of artistic and human interchange,” Jacobs says.
Kyiv Post staff writer Nataliya Trach can be reached at [email protected]
