Arsenale 2012 comes to an end

It was the first time that an art event of this scale was organized in Ukraine. The organizers say that the exhibit was attended by nearly 120,000 people with the lion’s share made by Ukrainian youth. Mass media and artistic circles express numerous contradictory opinions about this event. The Day will carry publications on this in its coming issues. Below Oleksandr SOLOVIOV, an art expert and deputy curator of the biennale, summarizes the Arsenale:

“First and foremost it should be noted that this was a real, not virtual, event. However, an international biennale is quite a complicated format. Surely, the opponents were quite skeptical concerning this event, but in my opinion the event brought all this criticism to nothing. Curator David Elliott succeeded indeed in gathering an ensemble of artists of high level and inscribing the leading Ukrainian artists in this international context. Mystetsky Arsenal is a potentially charged space.

Not only have we succeeded in showing contemporary Ukrainian art, but also show its development in the international background, which offered an opportunity for making comparison. Incidentally, Ukrainian works are by no means inferior to the foreign ones by the mastery, content, and originality. This is a useful understanding for our artists’ cultural self-identification: they can present their works abroad on a worthy level. As for the visitors, we were especially impressed by the attendance on the Biennale Night, when nearly 12,000 people came to the gallery. Therefore, in conclusion I can say that Arsenale 2012 was a success. Of course, we have made some mistakes, in particular, in organization, but let us take into consideration that this was the first time the event took place in Ukraine.”