Sydorenko Victor
In the project “Flashes of Black Earth”, Victor Sydorenko’s characters are trapped in overnight dreams of the restless Ukrainian lands currently engulfed in war. The colour black has a whole range of associations in the new series of the artist. Besides being the colour of the night, the word black is the root of such words in the Ukrainian language as black soil, Chornobyl, and Chornobaivka. Each evokes associations with stories of the Holodomor genocide, technological disaster, and Russian invasion.
Traumatic experiences of witnesses to wars and social catastrophes are in the foreground of these stories. Starting from the “Amnesia” project by Victor Sydorenko, these characters appear in white underwear. Both then and now, they remind us of the fates of millions of people who are trying to get rid of burdensome memories and heal in anticipation of epochal changes.
Today, the land is associated not only with the native area, but also with the substance that preserves evidence of Russian war crimes: the bodies of murdered people, the ruins of cities, houses and streets. In certain cases, the land is literally the only thing left from their former life. What was dear to hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians since their childhood has been destroyed and turned into an exclusion zone with only ruins and ashes. The only thing that keeps it all together is courage. The people who ruthlessly look into the face of darkness.
Born in Taldykorgan (Kazakhstan) in 1953. Graduated from the Kharkiv Art-Industrial Institute (now the Kharkiv State Academy of Design and Arts) (Prof. B. Kosarev) (1974-1979).
Founded of the Modern Art Research Institute of the National Academy of Arts of Ukraine (2001).
In 2003, he represented Ukraine at the 50th Venice Biennale with the solo project Millstones of Time. In 2007, he co-curated the Ukrainian pavilion at the 52nd Venice Biennale (with Oleksandr Soloviov), and was commissar at the 54th and 55th Venice Biennale (2011, 2013).
Selected One-Person Exhibitions
2021 – ALL COLORS OF THE SPECTRUM – IT’S WHITE LIGHT, Kyiv, CAC “M17”, Lavra City Gallery, NM “Kyiv Art Gallery”, Ukraine
2020 – TIMELESS, Kyiv, CAC “M17″, Ukraine
2020 – LEXICON, Kyiv, Maysternia Gallery
2019 – ATTRIBUTION OF TIME, Kyiv, Karas Gallery
2019 – ACQUIRING SUBJECTIVITY, Kherson Art Museum, Kherson / Ukraine
2018 – ACQUIRING SUBJECTIVITY, Voloshyn Gallery, Kyiv / Ukraine
2018 – ATONAL REALITY, Odessa Museum of Western and Oriental Art / Ukraine
2017 – THE BEACH AND COAST, National Museum «Kiev Art Gallery», Kyiv / Ukraine
2017 – DEPERSONALIZATION, Shcherbenko Art Center, Kyiv, Ukraine
2016 – research project MEMORY OF THE UNCONSCIOUS, Woodrow Wilson Center / Memorial Hall / USA
2015 – WITNESSES, Shcherbenko Art Center, Kyiv, Ukraine
2015 – MEMORY REWIND, Bereznitskiy Aestetics, Kyiv, Ukraine
2015 – METANOYA, Lviv Palace of Arts, Lviv, Ukraine
2013 – PROJECTION, Bottega Gallery, Kyiv, Ukraine
2012 – REFLECTION IN THE UNKNOWN, Yermylov Center, Kharkiv, Ukraine
2012 – IMMERSION, Kyiv, Ukraine
2012 – LEVITATION, Black Square Gallery, Miami / USA
2011 – LEVITATION, National Academy of Arts of Ukraine, Kyiv, Ukraine
2010 – MILLSTONES OF TIME, Black Square Gallery, Miami / USA
2010 – LEVITATION, Taiss Gallery, Paris / France
2009 – DEPERSONALIZATION, Plaza Athenee’s, Paris, France
2009 – NEW ARK, Gallery Collection, Kyiv, Ukraine
2009 – LEVITATION”, National Art Museum of Ukraine, Kyiv, Ukraine
2008 – AUTHENTICATION, Taiss Gallery, Paris / France
2006 – AUTHENTICATION, Municipal Gallery of Lavra, Kyiv, Ukraine
2004 – MILLSTONES OF TIME, National Art Museum of Ukraine / Kyiv
2003 – AMNESIA, L-Art Gallery, Kyiv, Ukraine
2003 – MILLSTONES OF TIME, 50th Venice Biennale
Selected Group Exhibitions
2021 – OPEN OPPORTUNITY, exhibition of Ukrainian contemporary art from private collections, CSM M17, Kyiv, Ukraine
2021 – ELLIPSYS, Ukraine Pavilion at Expo 2020, Dubai, UAE
2021 – CONTEMPORARY ISTANBUL’16, Istanbul, Turkey
2020 – UKRAINE: NEW ERA ART / the Virtual Museum, Doha, Qatar
2019 – MEMORY OF UNCONSCIOUSNESS, XV ISTANBUL BIENNALE, Turkey, Istanbul
2019 – KYIV ART WEEK, Kyiv, Toronto Kyiv
2017 – UKRAINIAN INSIGHTS, United Nations, New York, USA
2017, 2007 – TRAVERSE VIDEO, X International Video Festival, Toulouse / France
2016 – SUPERHERO, National Academy of Arts of Ukraine, Kyiv, Ukraine
2015 – CONVERSATIONS IN 100 YEARS, Modern Art Research Institute, Kyiv, Ukraine
2014, 2013 – PREMONITION: UKRAINIAN ART NOW, Saatchi Gallery, London / UK
2013 – PULSE Art Fair, Black Square Gallery, New York, USA
2012 – CONTEXT ART MIAMI, Black Square Gallery, Miami / USA
2012 – MIA, Miami International Art Fair, Miami / USA
2012 – ARSENALE – 2012 parallel program, Mystetskyi Arsenal, Kyiv, Ukraine
2010 – ARTHAMPTONS, Mironova Gallery, New York / USA
2010 – SCOPE ART SHOW BASEL, Mironova Gallery, Basel / Switzerland
2010 – SCOPE ART FAIR NEW YORK, Mironova Gallery, New York, USA
2010 – ART CHICAGO, Mironova Gallery, Chicago, USA
2009 – ART PARIS, Paris / France
2004 – FASTER THAN HISTORY – Museum of Contemporary Art KIASMA. Helsinki / Finland (http://1995-2015.undo.net/it/mostra/17778)
2004 – ARTIADE, Olympics of Visual Art, Athens, Greece
2004 – SMITHSONIAN HIRSHHORN MUSEUM, Washington, DC / USA
2003 – BLOOD: LINES AND CONNECTIONS, Museum of Contemporary Art, Denver / USA (http://www.cydneypayton.com/list-of-selected-exhibitions/)
The book by Victor Sydorenko «Hero. Object. Phantom»: http://sydbook.com/
Works IN COLLECTION
Works IN COLLECTION
