TIMELINE: MILESTONES AND PROFESSIONAL DISCUSSIONS

AROUND THE CREATION OF

MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART IN UKRAINE

01.06
2023

Opening of the inaugural project of UMCA — How Are You? Exhibition and Discussion. Its goal was to reflect on the experiences of Ukrainians during Russia’s full-scale invasion and take a step towards shaping a shared vision of the future.

For the first time, UMCA received temporary walls by becoming a resident of the National Center Ukrainian House. With the basis of the exhibition being The Wartime Art Archive (WAA), it presented over 500 works created by more than 100 artists. The curatorial team included Yehor Antsyhin, Olha Balashova, Halyna Hleba, Yuliia Karpets, Anna-Mariia Kucherenko, Katia Libkind, Tetiana Lysun, Oleksandr Soloviov, and Time as the chief curator.

The project took place as part of the Post-War Memory Culture in Ukraine program, implemented by the MOCA NGO in partnership with the Memory culture platform Past / Future / Art, with the support of Switzerland.

 

12.05
2023

MOCA NGO founded the Ukrainian Museum of Contemporary Art / UMCA. It is an institution of a new type that brings together professionals of contemporary art in Ukraine, makes it more accessible to different audiences and enables the emergence of a public dialogue about a common future within its territory. UMCA employs the idea of decentralization, being a network of autonomous institutions in different regions. United by a common mission, values and collection, they interact through the Digital Platform, which provides access to an organized database of Ukrainian art of the second half of the 20th to the 21st centuries from both state and private collections. 

 

21.01.
2023

The exhibition Who Holds Up the Sky? opened at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. The project is the result of joint efforts of The Wartime Art Archive curators, Oleksandra Kovalchuk (The Odesa National Fine Arts Museum), and teams of MOCA NGO and MFA (Boston). This exhibition presented the works by Behind Blue Eyes project, Vadym Belikov, Yana Kononova, Inga Levi, Efrem Lukatsky, and Kostiantyn Polishchuk. 

 

12.
2022

Fund for the Preservation of the Cultural Heritage of Ada Rybachuk and Volodymyr Melnychenko (ARVM) together with MOCA NGO and UNESCO carried out certain actions to develop a comprehensive architectural strategy for the development of ARVM Museum-workshop.
Specifically, a concept for the future museum was devised, as well as a plan to modernise the existing building and courtyard to meet the set objectives. Scientific and analytical work was conducted on the art pieces in the museum-workshop’s courtyard. Access was organised, and a museum exhibition in the courtyard space of the Museum was set up. The first public tours in the renovated museum courtyard were conducted.

The concept of the future museum was presented with the participation of UNESCO representatives and was accepted by Volodymyr Melnychenko in December 2022 during his lifetime.

 

19.10.
2022

MOCA NGO started to acquire artworks for the collection of the future Ukrainian Museum of Contemporary Art with the support of the Ukrainian Institute of Contemporary Art (Chicago, USA) and Therme Art.  The beginning is 108 works from The Wartime Art Archive with artistic, historical and cultural value. The works of Kinder Album, Kateryna Lisovenko, Ilya Isupov, Yevhen Klymenko, Vasyl Tkachenko, Yehor Antsyhin, Denys Salivanov, Danylo Movchan, and Inga Levy constitute the collection. MOCA NGO buys artworks directly from artists with the appropriate legal papers and payments of taxes provided by the legislation of Ukraine.

 

05-11.
2022

Piazza Ucraina is a place of solidarity with Ukraine in the heart of Venice, created by the team of the Pavillion of Ukraine — сurators Liza German, Borys Filonenko and Maria Lanko — in dialogue and upon an invitation from La Biennale and Cecilia Alemani.

Piazza’s space was created by Dana Kosmina, an artist and architect, and it embodies a balance of stability and fluidity. This place has a center and a stable structure, but it is a constantly changing exhibition, where posters are layered on each other, and the screen alternates broadcasts of conversations about the urgent state of the world before and after the war. Piazza Ucraina is built around a monument tightly covered with sandbags — a reference to the widespread wartime practice in Ukrainian cities of protecting public art from missile shelling and fire.

 

03.03.
2022

The curators Olga Balashova, Halyna Hleba, and Tetyana Lysun initiated The Wartime Art Archive (WAA) to conduct a curatorial observation of Ukrainian artistic practices since 24.02.2022. The Archive has a digital part (unaccessible to the public yet) and an exhibited one at our partners` space The Naked Room, where the physical artworks are represented. It is planned to create a public digital platform that will be fully accessible after martial law ends. All materials from The Archive will be given to the Ukrainian Museum of Contemporary Art. Based on the Archive, exhibition projects are created, among which are constantly changing expositions in The Naked Room, Postcards from the War, the exhibition The Art of Coping with War at the World Bank (Washington, USA) and others.

 

24.02.
2022

Since 24th February 2022, when Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, MOCA NGO has been focusing on the projects that are particularly relevant during the war days and after.

 

08.09.
2021

Olesia Ostrovska-Liuta headed Mystetskyi Arsenal for the second time with a strategy in which one of her goals is the establishment of a program “Museum of Contemporary Art”. It would consist of in-depth research work (including the collection of MA), long-term exhibition activity, and cooperation with relevant initiatives.

 

28-29.07.
2021

MOCA NGO, in a partnership with architectural office FORMA and the incubator or spaces PlaceR with the support of the Cultural Department of Kyiv City Council, organized the hackathon Anticipation of Space. Where do we create the museum of contemporary art? The goal was to define universal criteria that should be taken into account while choosing a place for the Museum of Contemporary Art and consider possible locations.

 

07.06
2021

The first meeting of the Organizing and Legal Council for the development of the Museum of Contemporary Art in Ukraine took place. The expert council members approved the implementation of a complex research project on models and legal mechanisms for the creation of “new-type institution”.

 

26.05.
2021

The first meeting of the Museum activities Council on the development of the Museum of Contemporary Art in Ukraine took place. The expert council members approved the Concept of functional zones in the spatial structure of the Museum of Contemporary Art as a basis for the beginning of work on the Concept of the Museum with further refinement.

 

24.05.
2021

The first meeting of the Scientific approach Council for the Development of the Museum of Contemporary Art in Ukraine took place. The expert council members decided that the future institution should merge different media and discussed the scientific basis for further work on the MOCA concept. 

 

18.02.
2021

More than 130 artworks of Ukrainian artists were handed over to the permanent collection of the Georges Pompidou National Center for Art and Culture at the initiative of the Ukrainian Club of Contemporary Art Collectors, the Hryniov Foundation, the Museum of the Kharkiv School of Photography, and other donors. Tetiana and Evhenii Pavlov, Zenko Avtanaziv, Leonid Komskyi, Semen Kantor, Yurii Kohutiak, Andrii Adamovskyi, Vadym Morokhovskyi, Evhen Demeniuk, Tetiana Osadcha and Volodymyr Shpilfohel took part in the event. 

 

10.02.
2021

The Mayor of Kyiv Vitaliy Klitschko stated on social networks that he realizes the importance of creating a Museum of Contemporary Art in Ukraine as a space for visualizing, understanding, and discussing the scenarios of social development and is ready to work with professional community to find a place in Kyiv for the MOCA together.

 

10.02.
2021

The Minister of Culture and Information Policy, Oleksandr Tkachenko, held a meeting with representatives of Ukrainian cultural institutions and board members of the MOCA NGO, where he asked the participants for their opinion about the suitability of the Hostynnyi Dvir building for the Museum of Contemporary Art and the first steps that should be taken to implement the project.

 

09.02.
2021

Statement of the MOCA NGO regarding the Museum of Contemporary Art and the situation with Hostynnyi Dvir.

 

17.11.
2020

An online meeting with representatives of art institutions, organized by the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy, took place to discuss the concept of creating a museum of contemporary art.

 

12.03.
2020

A meeting of experts organized by Deputy Minister of Culture Svitlana Fomenko took place at NSC Olimpiyskyi, where the Ministry accepted the propositions of the NAMU Working Group as the basis for the creation of the Museum of Contemporary Art.

 

23.01.
2020

The NGO Dzygamedialab expands its area of activity, changes its statutory purpose, and turns into the NGO Museum of Modern Art (MOCA NGO). From now on, the task of the NGO is not only archiving and research in the field of media art (the Open Archive of Ukrainian Media Art project) but also advocacy for the creation of the State Museum of Contemporary Art, which will include media art to its collection.

 

09.01.
2020

A letter of appeal to the Ministry of Culture from the professional community regarding support for the creation of a museum of contemporary art, taking into account the work of the NAMU Working Group.

 

17.12.
2019

Presentation of key concepts of the NAMU Working Group for the professional art community.

Members of the working group: Olga Balashova, Oksana Barshynova, Lizaveta German, Yuliia Hnat, Dmytro Holets, Tetiana Zhmurko, Ilia Zabolotnyi, Mariia Lanko, Daryna Yakymova.

 


2019

As a result of the research of the DE NE DE initiative, the Department of Contemporary Art was established in the Buhanchuk Museum of Fine Arts in Kmytiv, with the support of the Ukrainian Cultural Foundation. The work of the department was stopped in 2020 due to a conflict with local deputies (from the Svoboda party).

 

20.12.
2018

The Scientific and Methodological Council of the National Art Museum of Ukraine adopted the report of the NAMU Working Group, which was called Analysis of the Ukrainian artistic process of the second half of the 20th – beginning of the 21st century for creating the concept of a state museum of modern artit was made in the framework of a granting program from the State Fund for Fundamental Research.

 

24.08.
2018

In Lutsk, the Korsak private museum of contemporary art was opened on the territory of the Adrenaline City cultural and entertainment center.

 

27.04.
2017

The first meeting of the NAMU Expert Council on the creation of the Museum of Contemporary Art. Participants: Yuliia Lytvynets, Olga Balashova, Mariia Lanko, Oksana Barshynova, Halyna Skliarenko, Tiberii Sylvashi, Kostiantyn Doroshenko, Lada Nakonechna, Oleksii Radynskyi, Alevtina Kahidze.

 

12.06.
2017

The National Art Museum of Ukraine announced the start of work of the Working Group and Expert Council on the Museum of Contemporary Art.

 

02.
2016

The PinchukArtCentre’s Research Platform was founded to create a living archive of Ukrainian contemporary art from the early 1980s to the present in order to store, catalog, and rethink historical information, which is crucial for critical reflection on the current and future Ukrainian identity.

 

05.08.
2010

In Donetsk, the fund Izolyatsia. Platform for Cultural Initiatives was founded as a space for discussing up-to-date social and political initiatives by creating art projects, research, and residencies. The foundation worked as a center of contemporary art and was gathering an art collection since the beginning of its activity.

 

10.04
2008

The Museum of Odesa Modern Art was opened; the private collection of the head of the board of the Vostok bank Vadym Morokhovskyi formed the basis of the museum fund.

 

10.04.
2008

The businessman and collector Viktor Pinchuk founded the contemporary art center PinchukArtCentre.

 

2006-
2007

The contest Museum of Contemporary Art as a laboratory for creative ideas and visual improvisations by the Eidos charity fund. The exhibition of finalist projects and a round table took place in the unfinished premises of the Mystetskyi Arsenal.

 

04.
2005

The cultural institution Mystetskyi Arsenal, which, among other directions, works with contemporary art, was founded. 

 

03.
2005

The prime minister of Ukraine, Yuliia Tymoshenko, canceled the competition results for the best revitalization project of the Arsenal space, which was won by the Pinchuk Foundation. The newly elected president of Ukraine, Viktor Yushchenko, announced the establishment of a new state institution Mystetskyi Arsenal (Art Arsenal). According to the president, it was to become the “Ukrainian Louvre”.

 

01.
2005

Opening of the private Museum of Modern Fine Art of Ukraine based on the private collection of Serhiy Tsiupko. Later, the museum changed its name to the Museum of Modern Art of Ukraine.

 

09.
2004

The artist Viacheslav Mashnytskyi opened the Contemporary Art Museum and the Polina Raiko Charity Fund in his apartment in Kherson. He formed a collection of artworks by naïve artists and other Ukrainian creators and began exhibition activity.  

 

09.
2004

Viktor Pinchuk started the process of creating a private Museum of Contemporary Art in the Arsenal factory premises. Previously, the Arsenal building was handed over from the disposal of the Ministry of Defense to the Ministry of Culture. The Ministry of Culture announced a competition for the best revitalization project of the former Kyiv Repair Plant. The Pinchuk Foundation won the contest. In October 2004, the exhibition A Farewell to Arms took place there.

 

11.
2003

The First Collection exhibition took place in the halls of the Artist’s House. It was a presentation of Viktor Pinchuk’s collection that was gathered and positioned as a museum collection. Organizer — Gelman Gallery, the director of which then was Oleksandr Roitburd, curator — Oleksandr Solovyov.

 

1.09.
2003

Artists and political strategists Ihor Podolchak and Ihor Diurych organized the exhibition and auction Public Collection. Patrons’ Time to start a collection of contemporary art in the National Art Museum of Ukraine. The works of Oleksandr Hnylytskyi, Serhii Bratkov, Yurii Solomko, Pavlo Makov, Illia Chychkan, and Hlib Vysheslavskyi were acquired from the auction for the NAMU collection. A new storage category — mixed media — emerged in Ukrainian museum practice.

 

02.
2003

Gelman Gallery organized a three-day conference dedicated to the Museum of Contemporary Art with the participation of international experts Alexandr  Borovskyi (The State Russian Museum) and Nicolas Bourriaud (Palais de Tokio) in Pushcha Ozerna. Three sections were working: Museum as an activity (led by Natalia Filonenko), Museum as an institution (led by Hlib Vysheslavskyi), and Museum as a collection (led by Oleksandr Soloviov). 

 


2002

In 2002, the Russian gallerist and political strategist Marat Gelman opened the Marat Gelman Gallery in Kyiv as a branch of the Moscow gallery.

 


1998

The Association of Galleries of Ukraine (CCA Soviart) stated the need to create a national museum of contemporary art.

 

02.
1993

The Soros Center of Contemporary Art was founded in Kyiv. It was the first center of contemporary visual art in Ukraine, which settled in the old academic building of the Kyiv-Mohyla Academy on October 28, 1995.

 


1991

The first corporate collections began to emerge. Eduard Dymshyts started a corporate contemporary art collection for Hradobank. In 2016, according to a court decision, it was handed over to the National Museum of Ukraine. As of today, this is the most complete museum collection of contemporary art in Ukraine.