PINCHUKARTCENTRE On 11 April another big opening occurred at the PinchukArtCentre, your local resource for top contemporary art. This time Japanese hipster artist Mariko Mori personally came to Kyiv at Viktor Pinchuk’s invitation to install and present her ‘Oneness’ exhibition, which will run at the Centre until the middle of June. As part of the opening Dakha-Brakha performed in the Arena yard and Mori gave a long speech. Lots of celebrities, the usual eye candy, businessmen, and politicians showed up. It was quite cold outside, by the way, and it was really a little bit hard to keep standing out there for the length of the programme, but you have to suffer for art.

TSAR PROJECT On 8 April renowned Russian writer and playwright Evgeny Grishkovets performed with the band Bigudi during a live performance at the leading nightclub Tsar. It was one overcrowded evening at the elegant club, as everyone wanted to see his or her favorite writer not writing, but in fact singing. Grishkovets likes Kyiv very much and visits it regularly to stage his plays and play his concerts. He combined his performance with Bigudi with the presentation of his new book.

ACCO INTERNATIONAL Luxury Temptation 2008 was an exhibition of four-wheeled masterpieces, and it was recently on view at ACCO International. Visitors enjoyed viewing seeing upgrades by Brabus, Techart, Hamann, and Mansory, which were grafted onto vehicles such as Carrera, BMW X5, Lamborghini, Rolls-Royce, and Bentley. Those who wanted a cool ride could actually buy one right on the spot. Exclusive jewelry, paintings, and interior goods collections were also on view at the exhibition. The guests enjoyed the exhibition while listening to live jazz music and watching fashion shows. The event ended with an auction of the masterpieces on view.

BARSKY On 11 April the PReya awards, a brand-new award programme in the pattern of the American Golden Raspberries, gathered a bunch of celebrities together to nominate them for their dubious achievements. There were nominations in such ridiculous categories as ‘Face Trading’, ‘The Ultimate Screw-up’, and more. Among the nominees were Vlada Litovchenko, Mikhaylo Poplavsky, Oksana Bayrak, Vlad Yama, and Dmitry Kolyadenko. The event was hosted by Natalya Radkovskaya, the president of the brand-new annual ceremony, who presented her new album ‘We’re Not Angels’ at the event. Everybody had fun while receiving their Golden Pill non-awards.

HYATT REGENCY The International Women’s Club Kyiv held its annual Black, White and Candlelight ball which, as usual, is an excuse for top Kyiv business people and members of the political and diplomatic community to get together and have a good time, while raising a whole lot of money for good causes. Master of Cermonies, Canadian Ambassador to Ukraine Ms Abina Dann, kept the night flowing smoothly and Stuart McKenzie and Stephen Ansell did a great job hosting the auction, the top lot being a What’s On cover which was bought by Winner Automotive for $5,000. The night raised over $40,000, which will be put to good use helping those less fortunate.

FREEDOM On 2 April Ukraines favourite r’n’b singer, Gaitana, presented her new album ‘Secret Desires’, which is both romantic and dance-oriented. Everyone who attended put a card on which he’d scribbled his most secret desire into a box, which was all part of a raffling-off of valuable prizes. Later the star herself took the stage and presented her new songs as well as her new video. Gaitana’s producer Eduard Klim spoke passionately about the singer’s latest successes and despite, or perhaps because of, the relative lack of many super-famous types at the event, there was a good, warm social vibe.

FIFTH ELEMENT Leading interior magazine Domus Design celebrated its sixth anniversary on 3 April. Katya Vinogradova hosted the event, which was attended by lots of celebrities who dropped by to pass along their best wishes on the occasion of their favourite magazine’s birthday party. Ukrainian rock icon Alyona Vinnitskaya performed to top off the festivities, creating an intimate atmosphere with her at once warm and rocking songs, getting all the participants moving into the bargain.

KYIV TROYANDA PAVILLION AND VOZYEDNANNYA ARK On 29 March the 5th annual French Spring festival kicked off in Kyiv with a bright and colourful culinary show by Dorothee Seltz in Khreschaty park. The French Ambassador officially opened the festival from inside a rather interesting pyramidal sculpture decorated with cocktail sticks laced with tomatoes, cucumbers, paprika, cheese and other delicious foodstuffs. Following the culinary event, there was a true visual spectaluar, ‘Catcher of the Moon’ where the skies around Kreshchatyk were filled with massive hot air balloons. The opening event finished off with a great firework display.

SOFIYA KYIVSKA On 21 March painter Vladymyr Smyrnov presented his works at the Hlibnya exhibition hall at St. Sofia Cathedral. Smyrnov’s friends and colleagues mingled at the event with guests like Natasa Prah, wife of the Slovenian ambassador to Ukraine. Smyrnov’s work has been critically acclaimed and obviously appealed quite a bit to the assembled crowd.

PALACE UKRAINE On 22 March the Man of the Year 2007 contest was held in a glittering night at Palace Ukraine. Present were businessman Lev Partshaladze, Karin model agency head Vlada Litovchenko, boxer and politician Volodymyr Klitschko, designer Diana Dorozhkina, actor Bohdan Stupka, and many others. Ukrainian ex-presidents Leonid Kravchuk and Leonid Kuchma were the honoured guests of the ceremony while Olga Sumska and Yuri Gorbunov served as hosts and the guys from ‘95 Kvartal’ kept everyone laughing. Ukrainian and Russian stars Tina Karol, Vitaliy Kozlovsky, Nataliya Mohilevska, Valeriy Meladze, and ViaGra sang at the ceremony, which is one of the top social/show-business events on the Ukrainian calendar.

PREMIERE PALACE HOTEL On 23 March the Golden Daisy ball took place at the Premiere Palace, where designers Nadezhda Gangha, Alena Serebrova, Anna Sosnovskaya, Felix Radionov, Viktoria Chukarova, and Eugene Fenenko introduced their casual sportswear lines. (The designers were apparently inspired by an autumn sojourn at Yalta’s Bristol hotel.) The ball featured various competitions, one of which was the Yalta: A Present for the Soul competition, in which the designers competed to create the most appropriate symbol/logo for the great Black Sea resort town. The jury included socialite Marysya Horobets, movie director Oksana Bayrak, editor-in-chief of Exclusive Style magazine Angelica Dolghenko, and Arkadiy Raytsin, who’s the director of the Person of the Year programme. There was also a charity auction and Chanson radio director Kiril Kapustin was on hand as party host. The main aim of the ball was to attract more attention to Yalta as a recreational spot.

UKRAINA CINEMA On 18 March Kyiv’s Ukraina cinema was full of Ukrainian and Russian stars who came for the premiere of the new Russian movie ‘Day of Radio’, directed by Dmitriy Dyachenko and starring actors Nonna Grishaeva, Aleksander Tsekalo, and Oleg Skrypka. Afterwards there was a bartenders’ show and a small buffet at which lots of Ukrainian celebrities were present. The band Neschastny Sluchay, headed by Aleksey Kortnev, also played. ‘Day of Radio’ is a relaxing comedy that’s raking in the rubles and appealing to audiences, and it’s worth a see.

O’BRIEN’S 17 March is Saint Patrick’s Day, that Irish phenomenon celebrated all over the world, but none of the parties matched that of the one in this most famous of Irish pubs. So popular was this one that Saint Patrick himself turned up to join in the festivities which included Irish dancing, bagpipes and folk music. There was, of course, huge amounts of Guinness and green beer consumed on the night, along with those other Irish drinks, Jameson’s and Bailey’s. The party started early, and went on late, and everyone present, whether Irish or not, had a great time!

ACCO INTERNATIONAL From 11 till 20 March Kyiv was totally in a fashion mood as Fashion Week descended on the capital and celebrities thought about what to wear and what showings not to miss. Then there were all the after-parties at Leo, Barsky, Mystetsky Arsenal, and Tsar, which kept people up late. It was a paparazzi paradise for the ten exciting days of the event.