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Where there is no law, but every man does what is right in his own eyes, there is the least of real liberty
Henry M. Robert
23 February, 1999 - 00:00

 

 

During his inauguration the President of Ukraine took the oath of office
on Peresopnytske Gospel. Perhaps he knew that he was touching a
relic of the nation's culture, but he hardly knew that the relic some day
might need restoring. But why some day?

The Harvard Institute of Ukrainian Studies even collected money for
restoration of Peresopnytske Gospel kept permanently in the Volodymyr
Vernadsky Library of the Academy of Sciences. The scrupulous, exquisite
work that can cure this relic can be done in Ukraine only by the specialists
of National Scientific Restoration Center. However, soon one might not
be able to find the institution where ancient manuscripts, faded etchings,
and damaged canvases could be saved. New landlords are determined to force
the center out of their building.

But is this really anything new? A tradition of disdain toward culture
is embedded in the authorities' psychology. And when now they suddenly
start demonstrating their concern for artists, one accepts it with a mixture
of bewilderment and skepticism. For in the cultural architecture of the
state something is being restored that cannot be rehabilitated, neither
form a historical nor moral point of view: the very Soviet system of semi-contemptuous
surveillance that includes little sops to the absurd in a free society
"semi-governmental unions of those working in creative fields, prizes and
titles not so much for artists' talents as for their loyalty to the government
and due to the influence of their protectors. This "unsystematic", or more
precisely, indifferent state "love" is caused by the lack of clear criteria
and priorities in official cultural policy. That is why a noisy concert
in Independence Square or a recital by a composer, who feeds the audience
with half-baked pop hits, can always count on "the President's patronage"
or "specially allocated funds." Meanwhile, theaters agonize, museums are
in constant danger of their alarm systems being disconnected, and philharmonic
life in the provinces is dying. This is why the restorers' life is so unenviable.
The state officials care for today's momentary conjuncture of forces and
do not think about basic directions, living from elections to elections.
High officials were quite happy under the Communist regime, and in independent
Ukraine they have striven to restore what cannot be restored. When it is
convenient to live without memories, professional restorers with their
knowledge of history and passion for things created by the nation and its
artists, not by the officials, simply become unnecessary.

 By Serhiy VASYLIEV, The Day

 Walking along dark corridors of the Restoration Center I remembered
stupid clichОs of a typical remark from an official visiting a Soviet research
institute: "And now I am in the shrine of this ancient institution! What
interesting things happen in its laboratories? What are the scientists'
great plans?"

"Our director is leaving," says restorer from graphics department Olha
Korvatska, as if having overheard my thoughts, "because there's no future
here. It seems like no one takes the slightest note of us. We exist mechanically:
getting our salaries, but without any money for the center to function.

"In 1994, a presidential decree gave a number of cultural institutions
'national' status for their services and special importance to the state.
Thus the restoration complex founded in 1938 was awarded and became the
National Scientific Restoration Center of Ukraine. However, as it turned
out, the state, after conferring statuses, ignores the institutions and
assumes no further obligation: the center is not only poorly financed,
but exists in constant danger of mere eviction. Its premises are on the
books of the Kyiv State Administration which decided to turn them over
to a Kyiv Investment Agency located at Tereshchenkivska Street 11a. Now
the prospering agency wants to take over the whole building, stating that
the center is in any case incapable of maintaining it. Recently we sent
to Kyiv State Administration collective letter, where reminded them of
our rights.

"The letter reads as follows: 'Unfortunately, failure to carry out the
presidential decree on property transfer caused negative results, as a
consequence the center is now in a situation openly directed toward the
physical destruction of the institution.'

"I understand," she continued, "that an agency which draws investment
for all of Kyiv, is a necessary organization, but our center is also a
part of this city, perhaps modest and obscure, but an essential detail
of the cultural mechanism. I understand that the country is in crisis and
it is hard to allocate money for the center's work. But where do they find
money for the pompous restoration of the churches, destroyed in the thirties?
Such restoration is of no urgent importance. It can be done in another
five of thirty years. These days I can see canvases, books, and icons going
to ruin. No building administration will restore them. The restoration
of monuments to the past requires strictly systematic work. Now the structure
of museum funds, created with such efforts, is falling apart. Restoration
as a logical extension of this structure is doomed as well, for we are
fully tied to the museums that are dragging out a wretched existence. And
this process of decay is continuous. Thus in a couple of years all the
culture of Ukraine will be in Andriyivsky uzviz in Kyiv as handmade kitsch.

"Perhaps, in fifty years or so our rulers will understand that Ukrainian
culture cannot be limited only to banduras, Cossack trousers, painted eggs,
and clay-walled cottages. But by that time there we will no longer have
our unique specialists, and the whole system will have to be created all
over. The current authorities are quite satisfied with such situation.
Who needs some ephemeral culture? Everyone knows that uneducated people
are easier to control."

Serhiy Prudnykov, the restorer of vintage books, sees no paradox here:

"All this started when sly Lenin said that 'art belongs to people' and
any work of art was proclaimed priceless. So there is no sense to explain
the restorers' enthusiasm. I guess, it was Brecht who said, 'Unhappy is
the country that needs heroes.' Seems like he meant us. Because one can
say without boasting that the restorers' and museum employees' work is
heroic now, as it has always been. The Communists lie when they say that
consciousness is secondary to existence. This thesis has always been an
element of demagogy for them. The most important thing is consciousness
- that is, ideology. And everything they did to culture was under the influence
of ideology, propaganda. The ideology demanded demolishing churches, and
they did. Now they want to brag of their spirituality in front of foreigners
and restore the churches. And this is what all those restorers, artists
and others, who wear glasses, beards, and read books, exist for. Enthusiasts.
Pay them three hryvnias a month, and they'll work. Don't pay them at all,
and they'll still work. In our center the heating did not work until December,
the guards left, but the restorers brought their own heaters and guarded
the premises. And if something happened? Who would be responsible? No one!
Because how much is an exhibit worth? It's priceless, for it still belongs
to the state, not the people."

"Is there no way out?: I asked.

Serhiy answered in his own allegorical manner: "I will tell you a fable
of the heroic past of the happy American nation. As you know, the thirties
were the years of the Great Depression in the USA. And Americans felt so
gloomy that even the 'No exit' sign in New York subway was for many of
them the last straw. Well, the sign was replaced with 'Exit is in the other
direction,' and the number of suicides fell by half. And then they elected
a new President, shot the movie Gone With The Wind, and beat the Germans.
Guess why?"

By Serhiy KUZMYCH, The Day

 

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