A work stops being isolated
In a museum, a work is read alongside other objects, documents, catalogues and collecting histories. The same logic is central to the publication on Edik Natanov’s collection.
MUSEUMS · EXHIBITIONS · MEMORY
Exhibition
history
From radical experiments of the 1920s to a major international tour that helped reframe modernism in Ukraine as a distinct phenomenon in the twenty-first century.
01 / KEY SHOWS
From “5 × 5 = 25” to “In the Eye of the Storm”
1921
“5 × 5 = 25”
Alexandra Exter participated alongside Liubov Popova, Alexander Rodchenko, Varvara Stepanova and Alexander Vesnin. In her biography, the exhibition marks a key moment in the move from Cubo-Futurist language toward radical abstraction.
Moscow · historical context
01.10–03.11.2022
“In the Eye of the Storm” — Kyiv preparatory stage
M17 Contemporary Art Center presented a project on modernism in Ukraine from 1900 to the 1930s, foregrounding Kyiv, Kharkiv and Odesa as major cultural centres ahead of the international museum presentation.
M17 · Kyiv
29.11.2022–30.04.2023
Madrid
Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza presented groundbreaking art produced in Ukraine during the first decades of the twentieth century, from figurative painting to Futurism and Constructivism.
Thyssen-Bornemisza
19.10.2023–28.01.2024
Brussels
The Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium showed more than 60 works. Many came from the National Art Museum of Ukraine and the Museum of Theatre, Music and Cinema Arts of Ukraine.
Royal Museums · Brussels
29.06–13.10.2024
London
The Royal Academy of Arts staged what it described as the most comprehensive UK exhibition to date on modern art in Ukraine, bringing together more than 70 works including paintings, sketches, collages and theatre designs.
Royal Academy · London
02 / WHY IT MATTERS
An exhibition as evidence of context
A Ukrainian lens becomes visible
The international “In the Eye of the Storm” project was built around art produced in Ukraine and presented Kyiv, Kharkiv and Odesa as centres of modernist culture.
An exhibition can also safeguard
In Brussels and London many works were loaned by Ukrainian museums. The institutions explicitly connected the loans with the protection of cultural heritage during the war.
Private collections also have public histories
When privately held works enter museum space, exhibition photographs, catalogues and research can themselves become part of the collection’s historical record.
Sources: the site’s source publications; M17 Contemporary Art Center; Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza; Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium; Royal Academy of Arts.