PinchukArtCentre Presents the Exhibition of 16 Artists Shortlisted for the PinchukArtCentre Prize 2015

The PinchukArtCentre (Kyiv, Ukraine) presents the exhibition of 16 shortlisted artists for the fourth edition of the PinchukArtCentre Prize 2015, a nationwide prize for Ukrainian artists up to 35 that coincides with Carlos Motta: Patriots, Citizens, Lovers..., a solo exhibition by one of the Future Generation Art Prize 2014 Main Award winners Columbian artist Carlos Motta.

Kyiv based PinchukArtCentre presents new works by 16 emerging Ukrainian artists that will be on display from October 31, 2015 till January 10, 2016. Each work was especially produced for the exhibition and forms an independent artistic statement. Combined the works give an insight into themes, concerns and new artistic tendencies of a young generation of artists confronted with life in a country in distress.

The 16 nominees were shortlisted by an independent Selection Committee from about 800 applicants and include: Yevgenia Belorusets (34, Kyiv), Daniil Galkin (29, Dnipropetrovsk), Mykola Karabinovych (26, Odesa), Alina Kleitman (24, Kharkiv), Daria Koltsova (27, Kyiv), Kinder Album(32, Lviv), Sergii Melnychenko (23, China, Chengdu), Roman Mykhailov (25, Kyiv), Sergiy Petlyuk(34, Lviv), Mykola Ridnyi (30, Kharkiv), Ivan Svitlychnyi (26, Kharkiv), Sergiy Yakimenko (27, Kharkiv), Ekaterina Yermolaeva (30, Kyiv), Anna Zvyagintseva (28, Kyiv) and groups: Melnychuk-Burlaka Group (Ivan Melnychuk (33, Kyiv), Oleksandr Burlaka (33, Kyiv), Open Group (Yuri Bieliey (27, Lviv), Pavlo Kovach (27, Lviv), Anton Varga (25, Lviv).

The exhibition curator Tatiana Kochubinska, junior curator, PinchukArtCentre, said: “Forming the exhibition of 16 nominated artists indeed we were trying to track and show certain relations between some works, but first of all we are talking about 16 independent artistic statements as each project is considered as a self-contained show. There are several general tendencies in artists’ works we discovered which included an idea of interplay in art that requires a viewer’s direct interaction with a work, or in some cases there was needed obligatory engagement of a viewer leading to the art work creation. Also research was a main idea behind many works’ concepts: research of conflicts and social problems, informational wars reflections, thinking stereotypes analysis, self-, individuals and groups identification.”

The winners of the Prize will be announced by the International Jury at the Award Ceremony in December 2015 in Kyiv. The winner of the Main Prize will be automatically included in the short list of the Future Generation Art Prize 2016.

The winners of the Main and two Special Prizes, besides cash awards of UAH 100 000 and UAH 25 000 respectively, will have one month residence in studios of internationally renowned artists. Additionally, the winner of the Main Prize will be automatically included in the short list of the Future Generation Art Prize - international prize for young artists. Winner in the category “Public Choice Prize” will be awarded UAH 10 000 and shall be determined by majority of votes from the PinchukArtCentre visitors.

In 2015 the Selection Committee of the PinchukArtCentre Prize was formed by Alisa Lozhkina, chief editor of the ART UKRAINE magazine; Olesya Ostrovska-Lyuta, culture expert, curator, senior expert of pro.mova analytical center; Michael Rashkovetsky, art critic and curator; Bjorn Geldhof, Deputy artistic director of the PinchukArtCentre, and Tatiana Kochubinska, junior curator of the PinchukArtCentre.

Seven nominees represent new names of the Ukrainian contemporary art stage whose works have never been on show in the PinchukArtCentre before. Nine shortlisted artists have been nominated for the PinchukArtCentre Prize in 2009, 2011 and 2013, namely: Yevgenia Belorusets (2013), Daniil Galkin (2011, 2013), Alina Kleitman (2011), Sergiy Petlyuk (2011), Mykola Ridnyi (2011, 2013), Ivan Svitlychnyi (2011, 2013), Anna Zvyagintseva (2013), Melnychuk-Burlaka Group (2013), and Open Group (2013). Additionally, Open Group and Daniil Galkin were awarded Special Prizes in the edition of PinchukArtCentre Prize in 2013.

Starting from the first edition in 2009 the PinchukArtCentre Prize attracted about 4000 applicants from all regions of Ukraine.

Statistic data on the PinchukArtCentre Prize 2015 application results is available here.