Student of National Academy of Fine Arts and Architecture (NAFAA) Spartak Khachanov created an installation with gypsum penises that mocked a military parade of ballistic missiles and prisoners of war. In the other performance, there was an embroidered shirt (traditional Ukrainian clothes – ED) made of salo (traditional Ukrainian food – ED), which after the exhibition was thrown in the trash bin by the artist. When one of the professors of the department of graphic design Volodymyr Kharchenko had found out about such art he literally stomped Khachanov’s sculptures. When Khachanov tried to explain something to Kharchenko, he replied: “You’re saying too f*cking much. You’re about to end up in the conscription office.” He also promised to “bring ATO veterans”. But for some reason, in the Academy appeared hooligans from C14 organization, whom Kharchenko named “his friends”.
Foto by Dmytro Desyateryk
Stomping the art, first of all, reminds me of the behaviour of Nikita Khrushchev, who ordered to crush with bulldozers 1974 exhibition of non-conformist artists in Moscow. His visit to the exhibition was accompanied by the following comments: “What is this? Are you men or God damn f*ggots, how can you make this? Do you have any conscience?… Soviet people don’t need it… To forbid! Forbid everything! Stop this disgrace! I order! I am saying! And keep track of everything! Uproot all the fans of this on the radio, on TV, and in print media!..” Obviously, Kharchenko was inspired by Khrushchev. It is a pity that such a shameful Soviet practice still exists in our artistic institutions. That’s this practice that we need to uproot. As for the C14, who are now called to solve problems, are they bellboys now? Can we call them to the National Bank of Ukraine when hryvnia’s exchange rate falls?
With his stunts, Spartak reminded us that the true art should annoy and provoke people. True art – is not the one that was made for sale, and therefore it should meet all the tastes of a respectable public (apple-cheeked angels with lollypops or Cossacks on horses with sabers) or the current political situation (heroes of EuroMaidan and ATO). Of course, it is worth and it is necessary arguing about the quality of any art – that’s exactly what makes culture.
Foto by Dmytro Desyateryk
Speaking about phallic sculptures of Khachanov from the traditional aesthetics’ point of view, they look ugly: he could learn several lessons from Boris Vallejo at least (it was a joke). However, Khachanov is not a traditional artist. He is a conceptualist, and for conceptualism, the primary thing is an idea, not an execution. Someone may say that the idea is bad, like, not only those who have a penis are inclined to war. I agree, Margaret Thatcher began the Falklands War, and in 2014 at the same time, five women headed the ministries of defense in European countries. They are Ursula von Der Leyen (Germany), Jeanine Hennis Plasschaert (The Netherlands), Karin Märta Elisabeth Enström (Sweden), Ine Marie Eriksen Søreide (Norway) and Mimi Kodheli (Albania). I’m not speaking about the fact that at least 55,000 women are currently serving in the Ukrainian Army. Therefore, it is possible to argue the role of women in military conflicts and its reflection in Khachanov’s sculptures.
As for whether Khachanov’s sculptures are the betrayal of Ukrainian patriotic ideals, in my opinion, patriotism is the last thing that should disturb the artist when he creates. However, the paradox of the situation lies precisely in the fact that without Ukrainian patriotism there would never be a scandal of such scale. It happened because of the fact that today some part of Ukrainian society and the most active one takes so painfully any attempts at criticizing various manifestations of statehood (recall a Russian man from Sloviansk, who became Ukrainian nationalist and crippled the man who removed a flag from his car) this scandal arose. A lot of people were angry with photo, where Khachanov throws an embroidered shirt in a trash bin. That shirt was a part of his installation in the gallery. What is an embroidered shirt? It is an element of Ukrainian traditional clothes. But it’s hard for me to imagine that someone in the United States will be annoyed to see in dumpster jeans, or sombrero in Mexico, and kimono in Japan. Khachanov knew all this and that’s why he made this performance in Ukraine, because nowhere else, in any other country, it could succeed.
Foto by Dmytro Desyateryk
What Khachanov gives us – art or political performance? Recall French philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre, who suggested that any art that has a link with the surrounding reality should be called “l’engagement”. Of course, this means politicization. Avant-garde artist from Argentine Julio Le Parc, in general, believed that all artists are politicized: even if they paint kittens, they distract attention from other problems, and this may be beneficial to authorities.
But are such artistic and political performances permitted in general? What is the edge for an artist? Does it exist? And this question shouldn’t be solved by patriotic activists and teachers; it’s a job for law enforcement agencies – that is, professionals. If suddenly in the works of Spartak Khachanov there is a violation of Ukrainian laws, then the National Police and the Prosecutor’s Office or active citizens should pay attention to this. Then these people have to go to court, and the judge will decide whether there has been a violation of the law or not. Why the judge? Because in this case both Khachanov and his supporters will be able to make appeals, and eventually appeal to the European Court of Human Rights if they are not satisfied with the decision of the Ukrainian court. That’s the way it works in the modern legal state, which Ukraine tries to be (albeit unsuccessfully).
So, what happened in reality? A group of nationalist-minded people led by a teacher of artistic educational institution destroyed an exhibition in the worst practices of Soviet “art historians in uniform”. As well they harassed and intimidated an artist of Armenian descent. This is also very important in this story. According to my information, many western media already start to prepare articles about this incident. The big text was published in BBC Ukraine. Therefore, once again the reputation of Ukraine as a country inhabited by savages, who can hardly be considered as conscious citizens was proved, because they don’t respect the law, and tolerate vigilantism as the only acceptable way of resolving conflicts.
Oleh Shynkarenko