Merchant – Weekend, 25.04.2008
From midday to midnight
Sergei Vasiliev welcomes Festival of contemporary art
On April 29th in Centre of Contemporary Art “DAKH” a party will take place where final program of Gogolfest Festival will be announced. Actually, its sketch is being discussed on all kinds of forums for already several weeks by people looking forward to this grandiose event for Kiev. And no wonder. Since times of legendary multicultural projects of Sergei Proskurnya – “Art Berezyllya” and “Grandees of Art” – Ukrainian capital really didn’t see anything that brave and of such wide-ranging enterprise. It concerns the concept of the festival as well as its participants. The concept in spite of its straightforwardness and unsophisticated character is revolutionary for Kiev. In the city where an audience and “art masters” themselves are traditionally divided according their interests and locally gather in small groups near their usual cultural centers and where it’s almost impossible to meet a theatre artist in philharmonic society, a musician at exhibition opening and a painter on literary evening, the idea of Vladislav Troitskyi - “Dakh’s” leader who unexpectedly showed culture regent’s ambitions - to gather all worthy, all able and all aspiring to something people on one territory costs dear.
To tell the truth, this task is ripe because an isolationism in the modern world where the most interesting art discoveries happen exactly on junctions and crossings of different areas of knowledge is justly associated with provincialism. In this sense “Gogolfest” challenges provincial consciousness. And, at the same time, it clearly demonstrates that in Kiev itself quite a competitive art community is formed. It should, however, to constitute itself somehow and to get better acquainted within, properly presenting itself to an audience at the same time.
Poly-cultural program of “Gogolfest” furthers it in the best way possible.
Actually, all the most remarkable things existing today in Ukrainian modern academic, electro and ethnic music, in area of visual and stage art are reflected in the program of the festival. Within the framework of “Cartel of Curators” project progressive Ukrainian galleries together with best modern painters will suggest their vision of theme “Live Money – Dead Souls”. Composer Alla Zagaikevych, the expert in area of experimental electro music curates programs “Electro acoustics” and “EM-visia” where “alien” sounds are supposed to be followed by not less fantastic images created by media artists. Rock musician Oleg Skrypka will become the headliner of concert “Ukrainian knightly songs”. Choreographers Radu Poklitaru and Larisa Venediktova who are, actually, the only modern dance producers in Ukraine will present works of their collectives “Kyiv Modern-Ballet” and DanceLaboratorium”. Youth Les Kurbas Theatre will come from Lvov with a program of sacred singings and performance “Waiting for Godot” on the base of Samuel Beckett piece, from Kharkiv they will bring a version of Solzhenitsyn’s “One day of Ivan Denisovich” staged by Andrei Zholdak - the performance shocking by its body’s frankness and piercing by its tenderness towards a man, mono show “Night Symphony” will be performed by a leader of Odessa clown troupe “Masks” Georgiy Deliev. I can go on enumerating all Ukrainian performers, music ensembles, choir collectives and theatre companies participating in “Gogolfest” continuing to wonder how naturally neighbor in the program of the festival singer Katya Chilly, pianist Eugen Gromov and, for instance, Beregovo National Hungarian Diyula Iesh Theatre - more known in Europe than at home - that will present in Kiev Chekhov’s “Three Sisters” directed by Attila Vidnyanskyi and “Hamlet. Death-dream” on the base of Shakespearian piece staged by Vladislav Troitskyi. But in general I should stop because those are foreign guests that turn “Gogolfest” into a really not ordinary event.
I’m talking, first of all, about two Russian theatre groups lodging all the time in Germany, however, the winners of “Golden Mask” prize in nomination “Innovation” - “Derevo” and AKHE. It’s interesting that Anthon Adasinskyi who thought of and already for two tens of years cared for “Derevo” – a tree in Russian - as well as AKHE people – Maxim Isaev and Paul Semchenko in different time periods worked with a famous clown, mime and dreamer Slava Polunin. From their patron they inherited the belief in infinite possibilities of man’s fantasy. “Derevo” works in the style of so called “physical theatre”. Meditative performances that invent these gutta-percha bare shaved people are almost impossible to describe. Mister Adasinskyi himself defines his method as “the ability of body to throw a feeling into space”. His actors do it with virtuous plasticity mastery that they will demonstrate in a specially prepared for the festival performance “Wolf’s Tango”. AKHE, on contrary, is bringing one of their most popular performances “Wet Wedding”. This is the performance where stress is laid on visual images. It is not occasionally that artists Maxim Isaev and Paul Semchenko call their group “Russian engineering theatre”: all kinds of tricks, optical and pyrotechnic effects and vivid pictures are its main component. In “Wet Wedding” – the phantasmagoric version of wedding ritual – ingenious authors involve actors. AKHE people manipulate by actors’ bodies the way they do by any other objects. “Derevo” and AKHE prefer to manage on a stage without words and this dumbness is fully compensated by other guest artists of “Gogolfest”. For instance, Moscow studio SounDrama who’s ringleader Vladimir Pankov staged Gogol’s “Evenings on bowery near Dikan’ka” as folklore action, Csokonai Theatre from Hungary where venerable Russian director Victor Ryzhakov turned “Thunderstorm” of Ostrovskiy into a psychedelic drama or LaboraTORIA of Boris Yukhananov in which one of the most honored Russian directors experimenters embodied his fantasies about mythic homunculus Golem. Mister Yukhananov is also bringing to “Gogolfest” a program of experimental cinema from “Cine Fantom” club. Films will be demonstrated each day on the festival. Also there will be master classes lead, in particular, by a famous composer, the author of music to a film “Island” Vladimir Martynov and not less renowned violinist Tatyana Grindenko. They will also perform on “Gogolfest”. In short, the organizers guarantee that during two and a half of weeks from midday to midnight in “Art Arsenal” that placed its walls at the festival disposal it will not be boring.
"DAKH" / April 29th (7.00 p.m.)
"Art Arsenal" / May 6th – 25th
