Contemporary art as Donetsk’s new brand?

Donetsk has displayed a considerable growth of interest in art of late. The local artists are developing industrial Donbas themes. They draw inspiration from urban landscapes and display their works in the most diverse spaces, from the municipal gallery to shopping malls. Early last July, Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts first held the Industrial Culture Nights. Typically, the idea is to transform old industrial sites into objects of arts or places for all sorts of cultural exchange. For one, in Donetsk the Industrial Culture Night’s highlights were excursions to the National History Museum and the NORD plant, exhibits at the Art-Donbas municipal gallery, entertainment program in Shcherbakov Park, and green actions up on a coal mine pit. The Night was concluded with Donetsk bards singing on the top of a pit halfway between Makiivka and Donetsk.

Such events, aiming to bring new life into now dead, but once grand industrial sites, are regularly held in Germany and Poland. Will this culture become a new sense for Donetsk, which unites its residents on absolutely different principles, although the sites are the same, with old, crumbling walls?

At the opening of “Art Point 2011: Donetsk Goes Contemporary” – an exhibit organized by the System Capital Management to celebrate its 11th anniversary – Liubov MYKHAILOVA, author of another Donetsk-based art project “Isolation. A Platform for Cultural Initiatives,” said: “Contemporary art is always associated with money. Donetsk has cash, so Donetsk has art.” A controversial phrase, isn’t it? The more so, that the origin of Donetsk wealth is no secret to many and more.

Is love of fine arts Donetsk’s new fad? The last year alone saw a great number of art events in this capital of mining, metallurgy, and soccer. Everything started rolling some three years ago, when the Foundation Isolation was being created. In a year, the Foundation presented a grand project, jointly with Cai Guo-Qiang. This Chinese artist created powder “paintings” right in front of the audience. Other events were also memorable (again, also masterminded by SCM): the contemporary art exhibits “Art Point 2010” and “Art Point 2011: Donetsk Goes Contemporary.” The latter introduced 16 contemporary artists.

A couple of month before, a new exhibit site Art-Donbas was opened, conceived as a space for local artists. However, beside regional authors, it displays works by globally renowned classical and contemporary artists. This is where the pre-auction displays of the Auction House Golden Section were held, with the total worth of exhibit climbing 150 to 210 thousand dollars. A pretty sum, isn’t it?

The summer of 2012 gave a new impetus to contemporary art: Isolation came up with two new projects, Partly Cloudy and Where is the Time? Art-Donbas and John Hughes Hotel also prepared their displays. The latter, too, serves as an exhibit area for contemporary artists. And recently the DaSein Gallery opened in a garage.

The theme of links between industry and art is indeed familiar to Donetsk. On a larger scale, other events, too, can be placed in this context, including trips to the Artemivsk Champagne Winery, exhibits at Soledar salt mines (Donetsk oblast), and an innovation from the Donetsk Agro Holding: excursions to the firm’s enterprises, including their pasta factory, although this last excursion is not advertised and is only gaining momentum. The Donetsk Metallurgy Plant, which actually was at the start of everything in Donetsk, also holds an open house once a year. All this is an element of “open-doors policy” for enterprises, but there is something more to it. One of the reasons that induced NORD to agree to hold excursions for local residents as part of the Industrial Night culture is recruiting new workforce, an advertisement of sorts among the young.

Hanna Ahafonova, curator of the Creative Village project by the Foundation Isolation (the project aims at blending art with architectural sites, ecology, recreation areas, sustainable development, natural resources exploitation, recycling, design, etc.), believes that Donetsk’s art future can be quite real. “If contemporary art and creative economy as a whole become Donbas’ new brand, it will profit numerous social groups and solve a number of the region’s social and economic problems. Such a transformation seems to have very good chances to succeed (given discipline and certain conditions are kept), for which there are a number of prerequisites. The market of culture and art is developing very rapidly in Ukraine. This has both political and economic reasons (legitimation of government and primary capital). The problem is, that Ukraine’s art lags behind Ukraine’s modernity,” says Ahafonova.

Donetsk welcomes risk and prefers doing things on a huge scale. However, art is so far not so impressive here as, say, sports. But the local entrepreneurs are not afraid to invest in art, because they see it as a promising investment. An example can be seen in John Hughes Hotel, which lends room for exhibiting local artists, both young and obscure and renowned. The hotel offers absolutely free exhibit services to artists, including framing paintings, making catalogs, and transportation services. The hotel’s art projects curator and art dealer Anastasia PRYMACHENKO says, “Investment into art industry has long been a global practice. Of late, the most advanced audience of our region – businessmen, bankers, and political elites – have realized that the only correct financial investment is that in the spiritual sphere. Today investment in art is a new trend, which is rapidly gaining momentum in Ukraine. As far as Donetsk is concerned, we are a region rich in diverse talents. For instance, the hero of our next exhibit is known in Moscow, New York, San Francisco, Paris, Munich, and other major centers of art. The unique Ravil Akmaiev is even represented in President Viktor Yanukovych’s personal collection. Besides, he is the favorite artist of Donetsk Mayor Oleksandr Lukyanchenko.”

It is also significant that contemporary art itself has a bias towards industrialization. We are all used to Lviv and Chernivtsi as cities with a rich cultural background, with both conventional and non-conventional genres, but they lack something which allows true experimentation. Meanwhile, Donetsk as an industrial region abounds in such opportunities. Coal mine pits, neglected mines and plants, relics of the Soviet past, slums and workers’ barracks make this area peculiarly, albeit dismally, attractive. It could be not only the subject, but also a source of inspiration. The Foundation Isolation, housed on industrial premises, is a graphic proof of it.

Other similar examples could be found in Poland and Germany, where mines and plants are transformed into art objects. For instance, since closing down the metallurgy plant in Saar, Germany in 1986, the state’s government has transformed it into an industrial monument, which houses a museum and is used as a venue for exhibits and concerts. At present, the plant is protected as a UNESCO site.

Besides, nights of industrial culture in Poland and Germany are really a representation of new culture, directed at improvement of the image of industrial cities, a real opportunity to give them second wind. They organize tours, exhibit paintings, and stage plays. Besides Poland and Germany, Russia should also be mentioned. Ural Industrial Biennials of Contemporary Art and Zavod Festival are held there.

Young artist, known in Ukraine under his stage name Mikhalych, gave these comments on the situation: “The trend in Donetsk really does exist. Lately, I often hear about various events that are held to support and develop art in this city. Since the first organizations supporting creative initiatives appeared, people become more interested in this area. This sudden stir was caused by the increasing interest in art in the country. Over the past year, contemporary art has established itself as the most reliable and profitable investment. Many companies around the world already possess corporate collections of art pieces. The number of patrons is constantly growing. People prefer to invest in contemporary art. Involvement in this area has become an indicator of a high social status. And, of course, participation in creative processes and support that they receive reflect the cultural level of a region. I think the time has come to connect Donetsk to the cities that take active part in the cultural life of Ukraine. And I am glad this is happening already. I would like for young Donetsk artists to be more active, bold, and express themselves; and what is the most important, express their ideas and opinions. Since these are rather difficult times we happen to live in, where else can we speak boldly, if not through art?”

Today, one of 13 mines that were eliminated or are in the process of elimination, could be used as a platform for industrial art events. Or it could be one of 21 industrial enterprises, which are in the state of bankruptcy. But it is not known if their owners can pay attention to the fact that the space might become profitable in a completely different area. On the other hand, what art can we talk about if Donetsk oblast is covered with illegal mines that employ teenagers?

Dmytro MELNYK, co-organizer of the WikiCityNomika project, which is aimed at city branding, is sure that today plants and mines need to get new impulses. “Plants are practically dying. People seek fulfillment and wish to be useful. But what they do is neither useful, nor demanded. But why is it this way? Because the spirit of the plant is dead, the idea that was connected to this plant is gone. Both the bearer of the idea and the idea itself disappeared. The structure of meanings of its existence has been destroyed,” says Melnyk.

“I wish the art itself became a new brand of Donbas, because industrial regions are a great environment for the creation of new and innovative ideas,” says artist Mikhalych. “Industry has always attracted photographers and artists all over the world: it is a very powerful source of inspiration for contemporary art, a place of reinterpretation of human nature and human existence. I think that Donetsk authorities must grant artists the freedom they require, instead of imposing limits on their self-expression. Once, a lot of talented young people left this region, because they did not see prospects and support. These people will not come back, but we can bring up the new generation of artists, and show them that the prospects do exist. This is a hard work, but it is worth it. Donetsk’s reputation has not been one of the best in the country for a long time, and the only way out I see, is to change the image of the city, to accentuate the development of contemporary art at a higher level,” says the artist.

But in this sense Donetsk is only at the start. At this moment, the city prefers sports.

“According to Michel Platini, during Euro-2012, Donetsk has established the image of the sports capital of Ukraine, its business capital, and the city that was prepared for the Euro in the best way. Donetsk was not pulling the blanket over itself, it worked as a team with other Ukrainian and Polish cities, while remaining recognizable and original. A lot of guests were impressed by the city of miners and metallurgists, large business corporations and sports. Donetsk is one of the most important ballet and drama centers of the country, it pays a lot of attention to the development of the culture of ethnical minorities and children’s art. It is important for Donetsk today to hold and consolidate these impressions and get involved in the strategy of Ukraine’s branding, while preserving its own uniqueness,” says Tetiana NAHORNIAK, candidate of Political Science, senior lecturer at the Political Science Department of Donetsk National University. “During the past six months Donetsk Oblast State Administration has been trying to activate the working group for the city branding and the whole region, but there are no results yet. Ideas, meaning, and images are interesting, but they are scattered, instead of being compiled into a single strategy, and therefore, they will not work until the government hears those who know and love their city, those, whose children want to grow up and succeed in Donetsk.”

At this point of time, our oblast is not accustomed to creating brands for something other than football or hockey. That is why the investments in art are significantly smaller. According to Hanna Ahafonova, the art itself also does not yet reach some certain level. “The quality of art, which is supposedly supported by some companies, stays at a rather low level and often does not reach the narrative,” she says.

But even if a few more dozens of art galleries, centers, and museums appear, they will not automatically make this city a center of international art space, and its citizens will not be instantly transformed into art connoisseurs. You need hundreds of such establishments, and people that would visit them, people, who have read a huge amount of worthy books at school. And this problem does not apply to Donetsk solely, it is topical for the whole country. How do we make Cherkasy the center of green tourism, or how do we make Kamianets-Podilsky the center of woodcarvers? That is why the application for the transformation of an industrial region into a huge cultural center should have led to more active reaction from the state’s side, rather than to purely private initiatives.