PinchukArtCentre Prize 2020

Group Yarema Malashchuk and Roman Himey is the main prize winner of the 6^th edition of the edition of the PinchukArtCentre Prize, a nationwide prize for Ukrainian artists aged 35 or younger. For their work Live Stream they were awarded 250,000 hryvnyas (about $10,000) and automatically included in the shortlist of Future Generation Art Prize 2021 – a worldwide contemporary art prize.

Nikolay Karabinovych received the first special prize for his work Even Further. Uli Golub won the second special prize for her video Look, She’s Got a Beard! In addition to 60,000 hryvnyas ($2,300), the PinchukArtCentre will offer each winner limited support for artistic development within the frame of production or residence support.

The winners were selected by a distinguished international jury consisting of Björn Geldhof, Artistic Director of the PinchukArtCentre; Katerina Gregos, curator, writer and lecturer; Kati Kivinen, Chief Curator of Collection KIASMA; Vlada Ralko, artist. Thomas Delamarre, Senior Curator at the Fondation Cartier was not allowed to travel to Ukraine because of the coronavirus outbreak in Europe.

The jury recognized that the overall quality of the artwork displayed at the exhibition was very high. This made it difficult for the jury to come to a decision, as many of the artists had already reached an accomplished and mature artistic language. The majority of works engage with important social issues, showing what is relevant in Ukraine, Europe and internationally. 

While introducing Group Yarema Malashchuk and Roman Himey, winner of the PinchukArtCentre Prize 2020, the jury stated: “Live Stream is a very tight and visually stunning work. It engages choreography in a political, playful and poetic way. The work also offers a complex network of juxtapositions that speak of change and transition, past and present. It negotiates the importance of history and memory, but not in an academic or ossified way. It offers a very contemporary form of historical reflection that is relevant for Ukraine and by extension the world.

The work retains a sense of ambivalence in relation to what is staged and what is not, what is improvised and what is choreographed, although all visual parameters of the work have been carefully planned. It is a work that is likely to linger in the memory for some time, and so in this way it is iconic. Remarkably, this happens within a limited frame of action.”

Commenting on the work by first special prize winner Nikolay Karabinovych, the jury said: “Even Further is a poignant, moving work that deals with the challenges of histories while carrying possible futures within it. It employs a very precise, subtle and fine language, based on an emotionally resonant stillness. Every part of the work stands in perfect balance and are complementarity to each other. The work poetically addresses loss, diaspora identity and the displacement of peoples in an ecumenical way. The jury commends the work for its very elegant orchestration of sound, image and concept.

The work addresses micro-histories without directly showing them, but rather speaks about them through their absence. The jury was impressed by both the thoughtfulness and the execution of the work, and by its complexity and depth via minimal means.”

Awarding Uli Golub the second special prize, the jury said: “The jury found the work of Uli Golub to be very promising. They were impressed by its playfulness, originality, imagination, humor and surrealism. The jury thought that the work was particularly special in the way that it talks about delicate issues, such as the ‘Other’ and acceptance of it in a borderline provocative way. The jury thought that the work constituted an especially potent metaphor for discussing some of the most pertinent issues of today: migration, inclusion, exclusion and difference. They were impressed by the inventiveness, craziness, and sense of engagement of Look, She’s Got a Beard! The title alone says it all.”

The public choice prize of 25,000 hryvnyas (approximately $1000) went to Group Daniil Revkovskiy and Andriy Rachinskiy for their work Mischievous. The winner of this category was chosen by a vote by visitors to the PinchukArtCentre between February 8 and March 4, 2020.

The 20 nominees for the PinchukArtCentre Prize 2020 were shortlisted by an independent selection committee from more than 1100 applicants. The shortlist includes: AntiGonna (Kyiv), Katya Вuchatska (Kyiv), Uli Golub (Kharkiv/Wroclaw), Pavlo Grazhdanskij (Kharkiv), Ksenia Hnylytska (Kyiv), Alexandra Kadzevich (Odessa), Nikolay Karabinovych (Odessa/Ghent), Anton Karyuk (Kyiv), Oksana Kazmina (Kyiv), Iryna Kudrya (Kyiv), Larion Lozovoy (Kyiv), Timothy Maxymenko (Kyiv), Elias Parvulesco (Kyiv), Valentina Petrova (Prague/Kyiv), Anna Scherbyna (Zaporizhzhia/Kyiv), Alina Sokolova (Uzhhorod/Vienna), Dmytro Starusiev (Makiivka) and the groups: 12345678910 Studio (Obraztsov Evgeniy, Dnipro/Kyiv; Omelich Anastasiya, Dnipro/Kyiv; Momot Mikita, Dnipro), Yarema Malashchuk (Kolomiya/Kyiv) and Roman Himey (Kolomiya/Kyiv), Daniil Revkovskiy (Kharkiv) and Andriy Rachinskiy (Kharkiv).

This exhibition of the PinchukArtCentre Prize 2020 is curated by junior curator Alexandra Tryanova and co-curated by the artistic director of the PinchukArtCentre, Björn Geldhof. It is open until May 2020 from Tuesday through Sunday from 12 noon to 9 pm. Admission is free.