“The art of war and peace”

“Big Gogol is watching you.” In such a way the famous saying can be rephrased in the context of the International Festival of Modern Art GOGOLFEST, which is underway at the National Complex “Expocenter of Ukraine.” At the entrance to the territory of the festival the visitors see the big many-colored head of the writer, symbolizing the event. It is made of perforated letters. While the artists were working on the art object, everyone could enter it, and some of the visitors used this opportunity – when else can you get into Gogol’s head?

This year’s GOGOLFEST is amazingly large-scale. The festival takes 14 pavilions of the huge space of the Expocenter. This is far from the compact space of the abandoned plant of metal constructions in Vydubychi, where the festival used to take place before. Over five days around 250 programs have been realized here, i.e., 50 projects a day. Incidentally, one of the projects will be taking place at Den’s stand on Saturday, September 26. Everyone willing may see the new books published by Den’s Library and some of their compilers, as well as send a book to the ATO area, and sign a postcard to our courageous warriors.

One of the richest programs of the GOGOLFEST is the visual one. In the expositions of the participants of the groups “Conceptual Photography” and “Catching a Fish” between abstractions, nails, reflections on the plots of the classical time and renaissance, cityscapes, Gogol’s portraits and glitches, which appear more and more often in the exhibition halls of the contemporary art galleries, there were plots of the “art of war.” Like peaceful photos of landscapes under “glass damaged by shelling” or nude photos with weapons and bloody clashes in the background. It seemed that the space reminded the visitors what a thin line divides war and peace, language of love and language of hatred.

One of the reasons why we need GOGOLFEST is the theater performances staged by Vlad Troitsky and shown every festival day. The central play is Art of War. With military chronicle in the background strong women’s voices were singing mournful songs. There were no men on the stage, they were on the screen, and wives and mothers were waiting for them on the stage. The Ukrainian tradition to sing when it’s hard, when you are scared, and when it’s painful, was reflected in this performance, when the line between the performance and reality was hardly felt. Before the beginning of GOGOLFEST Vlad Troitsky said, “We are knocking together the present day and tomorrow.” And this is indisputably so. As a result of this clash the art of war and peace is born.