(opinion article)

“It is one of the primary motives of modern art that it wants to abolish the distance which the viewer, the consumer, the audience maintain vis-a-vis a work of art.”
– Hans-Georg Gadamer

Have you already heard about Pinchuk Art Center in Kyiv? This is a space where everyone can get acquainted with modern art. Moreover, the Pinchuk Art Center presents not only Ukrainian but also world art.

Do you think an exhibition of contemporary art is too expensive? You are wrong! All events at the Pinchuk Art Center are absolutely free.

What’s going on at the Pinchuk Art Center? The institution offers many exhibitions and lectures on art and current issues of our society, presented through art. To make it easier for you to understand whether you want to visit the Pinchuk Art Center, I will tell you about the first exhibition I visited there.

This was in March 2019. Then there was an exhibition of works nominated for the Future Generation Art Prize 2019. The art center presented works from 21 countries. Among them there is an installation by Ukrainian artist Anna Zvyagileva.

Some events, in my opinion, were a little different from what you expect to see in the art gallery, but each of the works speaks about a certain important issue. At that time, the exhibition covered the topics of nature protection and nuclear energy, segregation and censorship, sexual violence and child upbringing, as well as many other important topics.

The artists tell us about the present-day urgent topics with the help of everyday mundane objects. Without a guide, I would hardly understand, for example, what a metal beam does in a museum. But this is not surprising, because modern art is quite heterogeneous and may not be clear to everyone. Fortunately, the Pinchuk Art Center is aware of this and is ready to help visitors understand what and why. Before the war, the exhibition guides conducted free tours every week from Monday to Thursday at 14:00. Unfortunately, the Pinchuk Art Center is temporarily closed.

However, if you want, you can study the exhibition yourself. But I still recommend that you should do it after a sightseeing tour, because this way you will not only be able to enjoy the atmosphere, but also learn more about the installations and their creators.

Visit the Pinchuk Art Center and try to experience the spirit of modern art!