PinchukArtCentre held a press-review of the REFLECTION exhibition

PinchukArtCentre is to celebrate its second year by opening REFLECTION exhibition, which will showcase the newest acquisitions from PinchukArtCentre's collection. Starting from October 6 till December 30, 2007 visitors of the art-centre will have a chance to look at paintings, sculpture artwork, installations, photos and video installations created by the best artists of XXI century from Great Britain, Germany, Mexico, Poland, USA, Ukraine and Japan among which: Antony Gormley, Andreas Gursky, Damien Hirst, Christian Marclay, Sarah Morris, Marc Quinn, Sam Taylor-Wood, Piotr Uklanski, Gabriel Orozco, Jeff Koons, Takashi Murakami, Peter Doig, Richard Phillips, Vasyl Tsagolov, Illya Chichkan & "Blue Noses", Serhiy Bratkov, Arsen Savadov.

"I want Kiev to become one of the hubs of contemporary art, and I also believe that contemporary art should promote modernizing our young state", Victor Pinchuk, the founder of PinchukArtCentre, said at the exhibition opening.

Jeff Koons, the star of the official opening, one of the most prominent contemporary artists and ranked among the top ten most influential contemporary artists by ArtReview magazine, said: "I think that this is a wonderful centre and the works are placed so that viewers can interact with them. Because art is something that happens inside a viewer. Art is not what one sees on the walls. Art is what happens inside each person".

"This is a beautiful exhibition. You can feel its message instantly. This is true of all art, which is why different artists have much in common with each other. I really did not worry that Ukrainians would not understand me. In my works, I try to speak a common language", he added.

According to president of PinchukArtCentre and director of "Baltic" Centre for Contemporary Art (Great Britain) Peter Doroshenko, "this exhibition starts right from the street. There stands a man made of glass and metal. This is Antony Gormely's work. The exhibition is called REFLECTION. It conveys a strong message and aims to reflect upon life, death, love, and God. This is what we have inside each of us... "

Victor Pinchuk has presented to the journalists one of the most extraordinary pieces of the exhibition - an installation designed by a British sculptor and architect, Antony Gormely - "Blind Light", which is located on a new floor, specially redesigned for new projects of the gallery.

Inspired by architecture of Bauhaus, Gormely created an unusual architectural structure made of glass, metal, and steam, which will turn the viewers into actors. The "Blind Light" enables one to experience dissolution of his/her body and offers viewers to go amiss in dense and wet fog that seems to be touchable. This work by Antony Gormely, a British sculptor, artist and engineer, has embodied his efforts in exploring the nature of human metamorphoses.

Prior to the Reflection exhibition, the installation was shown only once, in summer 2007, in Hayward gallery, Landon, at a solo exhibition of "Antony Gormley: Blind Light". The number of viewers who visited the "Gormely room" during 3 months made up 210 000 persons.

For Kyivans and visitors, PinchukArtCentre has also one more surprise in store. During 3 days, October 5-7, the building of the centre itself will be an art-installation. A fascinating show will decorate the walls of the building starting from 8:00 p.m. till 11:00 p.m. The most appropriate place for viewing the show is between Bessarabskiy market place and PinchukArtCentre.

REFLECTION exhibition in PinchukArtCentre will be available from 6 October to 30 December 2007 from Tuesday through Sunday: 12:00 - 21:00. Closed Monday. Admission is free.

PinchukArtCentre (Kyiv, Ukraine) is one of the largest centres for contemporary art in Eastern Europe. Its key activities include arranging exhibitions, seminars, workshops, providing support to cultural projects, etc. Since it was opened in September 2006, it hosted four large exhibitions: "First acquisitions", "GENERATIONS.UsA", "Vik Muniz: Expertise ", "Instinctive Eye: selected photographs from the collection of Sir Elton John". More than 145,000 thousand people have visited PinchukArtCentre.

  Press release in English

  Press release in French

Photos of the press review of the REFLECTION exhibition