KINDLING – REFORM –
Viktor Pokydanets – skhovkarton
Residences Sorry No Rooms Available / Baltic Art Center / Milvus Artistic Research Center
Transcarpathian Regional Art Museum named after Y. Bokshay
April 20 – May 9, Zhupanatska Square 3, Uzhgorod
Curators: Alex Fisher – Petro Ryaska

The personal exhibition “hidcarton” (hidden cardboard, original name: skhovkarton) presents two new series of work by Viktor Pokydanets. The show includes works from the titular series of cardboards and ros. lit. The presented art has been created by Pokydanets at the residence of Sorry No Rooms Available.

“ros. lit”, Viktor’s cultural book vandalism, is his reaction to the life he lived in a country that can be described as a disguised iceberg of Soviet Russian nationalism – an iceberg which, since 1991, began to slowly emerge from under the cold water of ‘brotherhood.’ From 2014 and after 2022, Russia stopped masking the fascion of its national culture – as a consequence of which Viktor was forced to leave his native home in order to save his life and the life of his family members. Pokydanets’ subjective “book instruction” for language reform is presented visually in response to the war started by Russia against Ukraine.

V. Pokydanets invited Uzhhorod artist Ruslan Tremba to participate in three works in the “ros lit” series to produce.

Pokydanets’ cardboards exemplify several features of his artistic practice. Works in the painting series disrupt the authority of an academic style by extending this style to cardboard—a material that is often perceived as being disposable. Further, in true Pokydanets fashion, the works draw on a range of references, including pop culture, agitprop, and suprematism. The series demonstrates the ease with which what is ‘formal’ can become ‘informal’, and vice versa.

During the project, discussions about the role of contemporary art in social reforms will be raised. Pokydanets’ works make evident that, to engage in reform, one should reckon with the complexities of what happened before—the methods and motifs that were once influential. This series also suggests that ‘upcycling’ is key to effective reform; that materials which are usually put in the trash can instead be used in a different way, even transformed into a surface for expression.

Viktor Pokydanets’ residence and exhibition are part of the project Kindling – Reform program organized by Sorry No Rooms Available with Baltic Art Center and Milvus Artistic Research Center. The project is supported by the Swedish Institute, European Cultural Foundation, and The beaux-arts Academy in Paris.

Photo credit Mykhaylo Melnychenko

Photos from the opening

View of the exhibition

Video from the exhibition: video credit Petro Ryaska