"Mariupol-Gdansk": The importance of culture in times of war
On August 1, an exhibition of Ukrainian and Polish artists opened on the basis of the Mariupol platform in the Dnipro. It presents the stories of ordinary people whose lives were destroyed and who have found inner strength to be reborn. The main "highlight" of the exposition is an illustration of the similarity of stories of two cities in different time space. Mariupol and Gdansk unite the experience of war and the struggle for freedom.
The "Mariupol-Gdansk" exhibition shows prosperous cities and cities destroyed by war. Focusing on the human aspect, the exhibition demonstrates the strength and importance of solidarity and cooperation between people, between cities and between countries in front of the face of life challenges.
The exhibition presented:
• watercolor paintings of the wonderful icon painter Danylo Movchan;
• the world-famous photo "Light will win" by Dmytro Kozatskyi;
• collages and stories of Azovstal defenders by Anastasia Dmytruk, taken from her book "Mariupol's eyes";
• portraits and stories of people who were able to escape from the occupied Mariupol - the project of Alevtyna Shvetsova and photographer Sergiy Makarov, presented in the form of installation from Yana Gryniv with 3-meter films that expect to be manifested;
• collages depicting Mariupol and Gdansk were created specifically for this exhibition as part of the powerful cooperation of the Ukrainian photographer and digital artist Andriy Gupsa and Polish photographer Karol Nenartovych;
• photos of 8-year-old Yegor Kravtsov's diary, who had to hide in the basement in the occupied Mariupol, prepared by the photographer Yevgen Sosnovskyi;
• installation of "Air alert" from the artist Nelli Minasova;
• sound improvisation of "Pavif" from the series "Audio Akvar" by artist Oleg Kir;.
• multiplication "Under the Beam" ("Topical") and the video card "Railway (Azovstal)" of the artist Danylo Nemyrovskyi.
These people come from different parts of Ukraine and Poland, but they all unite the desire to tell the history of the struggle for freedom that cannot be forgotten. As part of the opening of the exhibition in the Dnipro, a curatorial excursion was exhibited and a catalog of the exhibition project "Mariupol-Gdansk: twin cities, twin history" was presented.
The exhibition was first held in Vienna under the curation by Yana Gryniv, in the collaboration of Art Contact Ukraine with the Polish Institute and with the kind support of the OSCE permanent representation of Poland, the permanent representation of Ukraine with international organizations in Vienna. In March 2024, the project was presented on Mariupol Reborn platform in Lviv, and for the Dnipro the exhibition was supplemented by three installations that joined the project after Open-Call, which was held by the City of Maria.
The exhibition will work until August 22, 2024. Therefore, we urge you to join the art initiative by visiting the Mariupol Reborn Platform at Dnipro, str. Kniagynya Olga, 11.
