Art, which by its nature pushes boundaries and engenders public debate, has always played a role in politics, and all the more so street politics.
So it is unsurprising that Ukraine’s EuroMaidan mass public protests and revolution of 2013 and 2014 should have spawned a host of street art that commented on this momentous series of events, and a new book by Natalia Moussienko called “Art Of Maidan” sets out to document and explain these works.
A Ukrainian version of the book was published in 2015 and presented in the United States, Luxemburg and in the Netherlands, while an English-language version was published in July 2016.
In her book, Moussienko gathers together and contextualizes various art pieces and projects that were created during protests, or that were inspired by them. She introduces readers to various sculptures, paintings, posters, musical performances, plays, literature and theater performances connected to the revolution.
Not all the art objects in the book fit comfortably into the classical definition of art. For example, Moussienko sees the metal carcass of Kyiv’s New Year tree, never fully assembled, and then covered with various political posters and flags, as an art installation. The tree is annually erected at Kyiv’s central square, but in 2013 its construction wasn’t finished because of the protests. The tree even became an official reason for the initial violent crackdown of police on the protesters, most of whom were students – a crackdown that generated widespread public disgust with the authorities and which fueled the mass protests.
Unlike many books about the revolution, “Art Of Maidan” doesn’t try to dissect the timeline of the protests or recreate events, but gives readers a feeling of presence through picking out artistic details that one could have easily missed in the mayhem.
“Memories fade quickly. That’s why I was in the rush to make this book,” Moussienko said to the Kyiv Post on Nov. 30 by phone, adding that she was at the Maidan recently and saw no artistic objects about the revolution left.
“I also wanted to show how positive and creative the revolution was,” she said.
Moussienko writes about influential mass art projects such as the posters reading “Kraplya v Okeani” (A Drop In A Ocean) that appeared at the beginning of the revolution in November. But the author also mentions small, private art objects such as the “Targets” installation by street artist Jersy Konopie – created in the form of shooting practice targets with inscriptions like “press” or ambulance signs, representing the shootings by the Berkut riot police and the regime of former President Viktor Yanukovych’s control of the press and abduction of injured protesters from hospitals.
“There were no great artists and little artists. Every drop of art at Maidan was important,” Moussienko said.
Moussienko is a leading research fellow at the Modern Art Research Institute of the Kyiv-based National Academy of Arts of Ukraine. She has written five books about the history of culture, cultural diplomacy, cinema and urbanism.
The book has four chapters. The first briefly presents author’s stance on the interaction of art and politics in Ukraine. Moussienko repeats some of the thesis that she has published in previous works and even says that she predicted that those who changed the urban space of Kyiv – artists and activists – would go on to change the country.
The second chapter examines the artworks the author witnessed during the series of protests from November 2013 until the end February 2014. In this part, besides analyzing paintings and photographs, Moussienko also contemplates how the public space changed during the uprising.
The third part, entitled “The Traveling Show by Ukrainian Artists,” looks at various exhibition dedicated to the events of the EuroMaidan Revolution that were presented outside of Ukraine from May 2014 to September 2015.
The last chapter of the book is dedicated to one particular photo project created by 17 Ukrainian artists – “Revolution Of Dignity Art Exhibit: Images From Ukraine’s Maidan, 2013-2014.” The exhibition traveled around many cities in Ukraine and in the United States.
Despite the author’s almost scientific approach to documenting the art of the EuroMaidan Revolution, “Art of Maidan” is still a good read, and provides a comprehensive overview of the protests themselves, the reasons they broke out, and their consequences for the nation – all through the eyes of artists.
Natalia Moussienko’s book “Art of Maidan” is available online in Ukrainian at mari.kiev.ua/Moussienko_MAIDAN_ART.pdf. Moussienko said she plans to publish additional copies of the English-language version of the book soon.
