Is Gallery 36 on Andriivsky uzviz to be gone soon?

Recently the mayor of Kyiv Oleksandr Popov visited Andriivsky uzviz, where he stated in front of cameras that “this street is an adornment not only to Kyiv but to the whole of Ukraine.” Nevertheless, the head of city administration did not say a word about Gallery 36, well-known among residents of Kyiv, the heart of metropolitan artists. The resolutions passed by the Kyiv City State Admitistration suggest that it is going to come under the hammer.

This building has been rented by the National Union of Artists for 30 years as a studio. In 1982 a sort of artistic commune was founded here by a special order. A memorial studio of a classicism painter Mykhailo Derehus is situated here. There is an art gallery of Oleksandr Milovzorov, Gallery 36, in the basement. Overall there are 17 studios in the building that belong to different artists, including Anatolii Kryvolap, who was recognized as Ukraine’s best colorist this year in New York, Vitalii Ruban, Iva Pavelchuk, Viktor Kaverin, and others. Noncommercial artistic solo and group exhibits have been held for 15 years in Gallery 36.

The lease on the building expired in November, 2010 but because the new rules of estate administration were set, it was only possible to get the papers for the next contract ready in May 2011. This contract is made between Kyiv Housing Exploitation Agency and a company that maintains the housing stock of the National Union of Artists of Ukraine and takes effect after being approved by the Main Administration for Kyiv Municipal Property. Both parties signed the contract on August 10 and turned it in to the administration. But it has not been approved there for more than a month. “My fellow-artists and I paid a visit to the head of administration, Dmytro Parfionenko. At first he was looking for reasons not to approve the contract and move us to a different building that is not suitable to house galleries and is of a smaller size,” says artist Viktor Kaverin, “but after the conversation Parfionenko promised to sign this contract. And all of a sudden we are informed that in three days, on Monday, he suggests that the standing committee of the Kyiv City Administration set our building for an auction.” Artists assume that it might be possible that someone influential persuaded the head of the Administration of Kyiv Municipal Property to change his decision.

On September 6 a committee of legislators decided to support Parfionenko’s motion to set the building for an auction if the National Union of Artists provided a written consent for moving out. “I was present at this session and the Main Directory of Culture of the Kyiv City State Admitistration supported us,” says Volodymyr Zinchenko, deputy chairman of the Union of Artists. “They promised us not to set the building for sale. But they don’t give us any legal documents yet either.”

“This is not the first attempt to take our building away. But we are part of Andriivsky uzviz. We have new exhibits opening every fortnight, people know this place. It is even marked in international tour guides. Therefore, we decided to fight. We distributed assignments among our artists,” says Merited Artist of Ukraine Milovzorov.

Liubov Kalita, head of the company that maintains the housing stock of the National Union of Artists of Ukraine, said that she did not understand the administration’s reasons for not approving the lease. According to her, on September 6, during the Kyiv Council’s property commitee sitting, after numerous appeals made by the Administration of Culture and the artists themselves, the head of the commitee Volodymyr Deineha promised not to bring up the privatization of the building on Andriivsky uzviz until the consent from the commission on culture and the artists is obtained.

Actually, the privatization of Gallery 36 is against the laws of Ukraine. For example, the Law of Ukraine “On Strengthened Protection of Property of Mass Media, Publishing Houses, Book Stores, Book Distribution Enterprises and Creative Unions,” prohibits the disposal of property housing artists unions.

Oleksandr Bryhynets, head of the Administration for Culture at the Kyiv City State Administration and a legislator of the Kyiv Rada told that “the commission of the Kyiv Rada is being asked very persistently to put up this building for auction. Our principled stand is to lease the building to the Union of Artists. But we are strongly opposed by some people from the city council.” When asked if he could name those people, Bryhynets said, “Yes, I can. But when it comes to proving that it is actually them, there’s nothing I can do.”

This question was to have been debated at the session of the Kyiv Rada on September 22. But it was removed from the agenda, as the local government is still waiting for the artists’ consent to move to a different building. The latter do not intend to give in. Thus, the pressure will persist.