Artwork information
- Author
- SOSka Group
- Project
- Dreamers
- Name
- Untitled
- Year
- 2008
- Medium
- archival pigment print
- Dimensions
- 13x19,5 cm
- Provenance
- The photographers' private archive
- Catalog number
- SOSK-06(2008)
- Inscription
-
–
- Key words
- teenager, training, trampoline
About the artist
Untitled
The group SOSka* is a collective of Kharkiv artists founded in 2005 by Mykola Ridnyi (b. in 1985), Serhii Popov (b. in 1978), and Hanna Kriventsova (b. in 1985). One of the platforms that united the group was the gallery-laboratory SOSka, which emerged slightly earlier in the same year. It was a seized space curated by artists Mykola Ridnyi and Hanna Kriventsova, along with Bella Logachova and Olena Polyashchenko. Creating a non-commercial space in a house in the city centre (9-b Kultury Street) was a response of the young generation to the situation of institutional stagnation in the city’s art life. After a brief flourishing of artist-run galleries in the 1990s, namely Up/Down, NaProtyv, and Palitra, the beginning of the 2000s was characterised by the absence of independent art platforms that could provide opportunities for experimental, non-conformist artistic expressions.
In 2005, Andriy Avdeienko organised several workshops by Boris Mikhailov for young artists. It was during these events that Mykola Ridnyi and Bella Logachova became acquainted with the approaches and principles of the Kharkiv School of Photography. The SOSka adapted its impulse towards sharp social expression and performative action, arising as a reaction to the prominent socio-political situation. Drawing on the traditions of the school, the SOSka went beyond the medium of photography in its analysis of the social landscape, utilising actions in public space and the format of video works. According to the authors, their main research focus is the study of the “relationship between the local and the global” in various aspects of life, from politics (action They Are on the Streets) and youth subcultures (project Dreamers) to cultural economy (action Barter) and institutional critique (action Distance).
At the moment, the latest project that the group has worked on together is the video installation Police Academy (2009–2015).
In addition to their artistic activities, the group curated several exhibition projects, such as the show New History at the Kharkiv Art Museum (2009), apartment exhibitions in Kharkiv and Kyiv (2011–2013), the project Shelter (2012), and artistic actions related to the local urban context (Grey on Grey, 2009; Whitewash, 2012; and Territory Marking, 2012).
Photo credits: 2008.
*The title of the group is a pun that combines both the “SOS” distress signal and the Russian word “soska” (from the verb “sosat” — to suck), which means a pacifier for infants and toddlers, ironically pointing at the reactive character of the group’s activity and their opposition to the elder generations. “Soska” was also used as a disdainful word for either teenage or young girls trying to look older, or a prostitute. The latter also hints at the precarious position of artists in the context of the market economy, which forces them to seek attention and commodify their art.
Solo exhibitions:
2008 — “Мрійники / Dreamers”, PinchukArtCentre, Kyiv, Ukraine
2009 — “Barter”, “Cardboard gallery” at the Dumbo art centre, New York, NY, USA (curators — Vesna Krstich, Nikolas Drosos)
2010 – “Memorial”, Torino WE, Turin, Italy (curator — Francesca Solero)
Group exhibitions:
2005 — “Художники SOSки / SOSka’s artists”, SOSka gallery lab, Kharkiv, Ukraine
2005 — “XXX”, SOSka gallery lab, Kharkiv, Ukraine
2006 — “Barwy Klubowe / Team colors”, F.A.I.T gallery, Kraków, Poland (curators — Viera Kosina, Magdalena Szędzielarz, Karolina Nowak, Gaweł Kownacki)
2006 — “New communities”, Caucasus Biennale of Contemporary Art, Tbilisi, Georgia
2007 — “Wspólnoty. Młoda sztuka Ukrainy / Communities. Young art of Ukraine”, Arsenal gallery, Bialostok, Poland
2007 — “Critically in between”, as a part of Progressive nostalgia project, Art-Athens Fair, Athens, Greece (curator — Viktor Misiano)
2008 — “Grabbing at straws”, Guenzi studio, Milan, Italy (curators —Negative Capability group)
2008 — “New Print Politik: Post-Soviet Politics and Contemporary Art”, Ukrainian Institute of Modern Art, Chicago, Il, USA (curator — Roman Pteruniak)
2008 — “Политика на улицах. 68.08 / Politics on the Streets”, Creative Industries Centre Fabrika, Moscow, Russia (organisors — Cyrill Medvedev, Ilya Budraitski, Oksana Sarkisyan, Nicolay Oleinikov)
2008 — residential programme KulturKontaktAustria, Vienna, Austria
2009 — “(Ре)Социализация искусства / The (Re) Socialization Of Art”, Museum of Odesa Modern Art, Odesa, Ukraine (curators — Reinigungsgesellschaft group)
2009 — “Wakefield Meadows”, Pavilion UniCredit, Bucharest, Romania (curator — Anca Mihulet)
2009 — “Нова історія”, Kharkiv Art Museum, Kharkiv, Ukraine
2009 — “Curated by”, Hubert Winter Gallery, as a part of VIENNAFAIR, Vienna, Austra
2009 — “Il Castello di Rivara apre le cantine”, Castello di Rivara, Rivara, Torino, Italy (curator — Francesca Solero)
2009 — “The future was yesterday”, student centre Galerija SC and Extended Media Gallery, Zagreb, Croatia (curators — R.E.P. group)
2010 – “Intercool 3.0”, Hartware MedienKunstVerein, Dortmunder U space, Dortmund, Germany (curators — Birgit Richard, Inke Arns)
2010 — “Якщо, Если, If”, PERMM Contemporary Art Museum, Perm, Russia (curator — Ekaterina Degot)
2011 – “An Elusive Object of Art”, Dana Charkasi Gallery, Vienna, Austria (curator — Iara Boubnova)
2011 — “A Complicated Relation, part II”, Kalmar Art Museum, Kalmar, Sweden (curator — Martin Schibli)
2011 — “The Global Contemporary. Art Worlds After 1989”, Center for Art and Media ZKM, Karlsruhe, Germany (curators — Andrea Buddensieg, Peter Weibel)
2011 — “Невозможное сообщество / Impossible Community”, Moscow Contemporary Art Museum, Moscow, Russia (curator — Viktor Misiano)
2012 — “Angry birds”, Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw, Warsaw, Poland (curator — David Ter-Oganyan)
2012 — “Shelter”, das weisse haus art platform, Vienna, Austria
2012 — “Подвійна гра / Double Game”, special project as a part of the first International Kyiv Biennale of Contemporary Art ARSENALE 2012, National Cultural and Art and Museum Complex Mystetskyi Arsenal, Kyiv, Ukraine (curators — Oleksandr Soloviov, Fabio Cavallucci)
2012 — “СРЕДА. Опыт внеинституциональных отношений. Харьков, 2004 – 2012 / ENVIRONMENT. The Experience of the Beyond-Institutional Relations. Kharkiv, 2004 — 2012”, Creative Industries Centre Fabrika, Moscow, Russia (curator — Serhii Popov)
2013 – “Global activism”, Center for Art and Media ZKM, Karlsruhe, Germany (curator —Peter Weibel)
2013 — “Re-Aligned Art”, Tromsø Kunstforening space, Tromsø, Norway (curators — Ivor Stodolsky, Marita Muukkonen)
2013 — “Ukrainian News”, Contemporary Art Centre Zamek Ujazdowski, Warsaw, Poland (curator — Marek Goździewski)
2013 — “Жизнь как форма (Кочевая версия) / Life as Form (Nomade Version)”, Creative Industries Centre Fabrika, Moscow, Russia (curator — Nato Thompson)
2014 — “Владні вертикалі. Фанерні колонади / Power Verticals. Plywood colonnades ”, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Kyiv, Ukraine (curators — Lizaveta German, Maria Lanko)
2015 — “Beginnings”, Vartai Gallery, Vilnius, Lithuania (curator — Neringa Bumblienė)
2015 — “Грамматика свободы / пять уроков. Работы из коллекции Arteast 2000+ / Grammar of Freedom / Five Lessons. Works from Arteast 2000+ Collection”, Garage Museum of Contemporary Art, Moscow, Russia (curators — Zdenka Badovinac, Snejana Krasteva, Bojana Piškur)
2016 — “Stopień zależności / Dependence degree”, Galeria Awangarda, Wrocław, Poland (curators — Open Group)
2019 — “The Influencing Machine”, Nicodim Gallery, Bucharest, Romania (curator — Aaroun Moulton)
2019 — “Патерналізм та просвітництво / Paternalism and Enlightenment”, first exhibition in the programme of “Жести ставлення”, YD Buhanchuk Kmytiv Fine Art Museum, Kmytiv village, Ukraine (curator — Nikita Kadan)
2021 — “Автор у грі / Artist in the Game”, YermilovCentre, Kharkiv, Ukraine (curators — Sergiy Lebedynskyy, Oleksandra Osadcha, Nadiia Bernard-Kovalchuk)
2021 — “Чутливість / Sensitivity”, National Cultural and Art and Museum Complex Mystetskyi Arsenal, Kyiv, Ukraine (curators — Maksym Gorbatskyi, Solomia Savchuk, Oleksandr Soloviov)
2021 — “Швидко. Зручно. Небезпечно / Quickly. Comfortably. Dangerously”, Mystetskyi Arsenal Laboratory of Contemporary Art, Kyiv, Ukraine (curator — Hanna Tsyba)
2023 — “Ukrainian Dreamers Charkiwer Schule der Fotografie”, Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg, Wolfsburg, Germany (curator — Sergiy Lebedynskyy)
Books
Botanova, Kateryna. “Artist as a Virus. Political Transformations and Art in Ukraine after 1991”. In Contemporary Ukrainian and Baltic Art. Norderstedt: BoD – Books on Demand, 2021.
Lozhkina, Alisa. “Rebooting the Kharkiv School: SOSka”. In Permanent Revolution:Art in Ukraine, the 20th to the Early 21st Century, 426-432. Kyiv: ArtHuss, 2020.
What We Want Is Free, Second Edition: Critical Exchanges in Recent Art. New York: State University of New York Press, 2014.
Periodicals
Athanassakis, Irini. “Fin arts – Die feine Kunst und die Kunst der Finanzen”. Kunst und Wirtschaft, no. 200 (2010).
Barnes, Steve. “Post Gogol”. ARTnews, vol. 109 (2010): 117.
Parabol Art magazine, no. 05 (2009).
Rietz-Rakul, Ekaterina, and Steve Schepens. “Scouting Ukraine: SOSka group”. Metropolis M magazine, no. 03 (2012).
Catalogues
Angry birds. Warsaw: Muzeum Sztuki Nowoczesnej w Warszawie, 2012. Published for the exhibition in theMuseum of Modern Art in Warsaw, Wardsaw.
Lozskina, Alisza. “Ukrainian Art in the Era of Four Revolutions”. Permanent Revolution. Ukrainian Art Today, 36-69. Budapest: Ludwig Museum, 2018. https://issuu.com/alisalozhkina/docs/permanens_forradalom_lowres_fin__1_/1. Published for the exhibition in Ludwig Museum, Budapest.
Mihulet, Anca. “Wakefield meadows”. Wakefield meadows, 1-11. Bucharest, 2009. https://www.yumpu.com/en/document/read/20426733/wakefield-meadows-pavilion-unicredit. Published for the exhibition in Pavilion UniCredit, Bucharest.
The Global Contemporary. Art Worlds After 1989. Karlsruhe: ZKM / Centre for Art and Media Karlsruhe, 2011. Published for the exhibition in ZKM, Karlsruhe.
Мизиано, Виктор [Misiano, Viktor]. “‘Только твои мечты!ʼ О проекте ‘Мечтатели’ группы SOSka”. МРІЙНИКИ. Група SOSка, 22-25. Kyiv: PinchukArtCentre, 2008. Published for the exhibition in PinchukArtCentre, Kyiv.
Online publications
Foumberg, Jason. “Eastern Unorthodox: Artists in search of a post-Soviet Ukrainian reality”. Newcity Art, September 9, 2008. https://art.newcity.com/2008/09/09/eastern-unorthodox-artists-in-search-of-a-post-soviet-ukrainian-reality/.
Ridnyi, Mykola. “Points of Pain”. ArtLeaks Gazette, May 2013: 51-54. https://ia803200.us.archive.org/33/items/ArtLeaksGazette/AL-Gazette-Ridnyi.pdf
Ridnyi, Mykola. “Ukrainian Museums: Between Two Evils”. ArtLeaks, October 17, 2012. https://art-leaks.org/2012/10/17/ukrainian-museums-between-two-evils/.
Staebler, Claire.“We are Ukrainians”. Flash Art International, 14 2009. https://flash—art.com/article/we-are-ukrainians/
Герман, Лізавета, and Світлана Лібет [German, Lizaveta, and Svitlana Libet]. “Група SOSka: Як формувалася спільнота довкола сучасного мистецтва в Харкові 2000-х”. YourArt, March 16, 2021. https://supportyourart.com/conversations/grupa-soska-yak-formuvalasya-spilnota-dovkola-suchasnogo-mystecztva-v-harkovi-2000-h/.
Злобіна, Тамара [Zlobina, Tamara]. “Наївні”. Український Журнал, no. 03 (2009): 52-53. http://ukrzurnal.eu/pdf/uz_2009_03.pdf.
Злобіна, Тамара [Zlobina, Tamara]. “Нова колективізація”. Український тиждень, November 3, 2010. https://tyzhden.ua/Culture/81.
Кочубінська, Тетяна [Kochibinska, Tetiana]. “В поисках среднего: тема героя в харьковской фотографии рубежа 1980-х–2000-х”. Your Art, February 26, 2020. https://supportyourart.com/researchplatform/hero-kharkiv.
Кривенцова, Анна [Kriventsova, Anna]. “‘SOSка’: между акцией и институцией”. Художественный журнал, no. 67-68 (2007). http://moscowartmagazine.com/issue/25/article/408.
Ридный, Николай, та Анна Кривенцова [Rydnyi, Nikolai, and Anna Kriventsova]. “Перспективы лабораторности”. Художественный журнал, no. 73-74 (2009). http://moscowartmagazine.com/issue/20/article/304.
Трофан, Ірина, та Дарʼя Шевцова [Trofan, Iryna, and Daria Shevtsova]. “Від реакції до думки. Частина 2: недооцінені проєкти”. YourArt, April 10, 2020. https://supportyourart.com/specialprojects/researchplatform/from-reaction-to-thought-part-2/.
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