AUXILIARY

The project combines the works of three very different artists who have the same object of observation — the Kyiv city, whose history is more than 1000 years old.

1000+ years of culture in which we live, layers of eras that we see, literally walk on them.

An observer of everyday life sees everyday life.

An artist sees the crumbs of culture and collects them. Canvas, paper, garbage — everything is important. What he finds and captures is the history that remains.

And what is gone forever, no one will ever see again.

The artist, as a careful observer-archaeologist, picks up and keeps these drops of the city's history for the viewer. Literally, from the garbage in the layers of the earth of past centuries to the present. From the shards and nails of empires, dilapidated ancient buildings, to the advertising posters of last week's buzzer-beater events in Podil.

To capture the past at least in this way.

If we imagine a city as a human body, then municipal workers in their branded clothes are like blood cells, servicing this ancient organism, repairing it, cleaning it. And artists, as representatives of the neocortex, record events in the brain cells. After all, what kind of person is a person without memory?

So the artists took on the responsibility to be AUXILIARY and to capture a bit of the history of the city of Kyiv. Because time is very destructive now.

And maybe we will add a few bricks to the House of Culture named Kyiv.

Valerii Khadeiev finds the idea for the project during his observations of city life and embodies it in paintings, collages, and installations:

“Auxiliary houses, auxiliary workers, auxiliary actions...

Auxiliary and invisible people performing invisible work...

I first saw this in the spring of 2022, when flowers began to bloom on city lawns and in flowerpots: well-groomed living islands, despite this war, lived their lives and bloomed, thanks to the gardeners and janitors. After that, I noticed something as ordinary and mundane as the presence of the city's auxiliary workers, who, despite all the hardships, make the city look the way it does now.

People passing by do not pay attention to the workers. But in vain. It's the absurdity of life. The most important thing is the work and visually striking form, which are paid little attention to. But what if they are gone? It's not hard to imagine what will happen on the streets and in the parks.

As a child, I used to look at small buildings in the courtyards of residential neighborhoods. Where no one left, where no one entered. These small sheds, booths. They are in every yard. They always have a lock on them. Someone has a key to it. There is some secret hidden in them. But I have never seen the door open or observed any movement around.
Last summer I began looking for these buildings in the yards. And it seemed to me that there were much fewer of them. As if they were there, as if they were still alive, but they were disappearing.

And when they dissolve under the onslaught of a new developer, yes, everyone immediately notices that there is less air. And every year there is less and less air in Kyiv.

The process of creating my works was largely accidental.

I walked the streets of the city and tore down or simply picked up advertising posters of past events from the asphalt. These then became parts of the collage in my works. This imprint of city life was transferred to paper.

The auxiliary workers among the insanely large amount of advertising and information noise. Absurdity and divergence of worlds. But, nevertheless, sometimes it was built into a logically complete plot. Postabsurd, postabsurd.

Servus, dada. You are still alive.”

Anna Protsenko dedicated her series of paintings and graphic works “Houses” to the idea of preserving Kyiv architecture for posterity:

“I've always been impressed by old houses, their proud silhouettes and postures. When I settled in Kyiv, I started painting abandoned, long-suffering, seemingly nondescript houses. I tried different techniques and materials until my personal style was formed. Some of my works feature small characters. These are images of legendary personalities who lived and worked in these mysterious houses. You can find out what my works hide if you take a closer look, look through the windows, meet the characters of the past, feel the unique heart rhythm that this house used to live with... I believe that it still breathes with the memory of its past, pulsates.

Many historical buildings are in a state of disrepair. I want to ensure that architectural monuments that are already dying are not forgotten. Instead of being completely destroyed, they should be restored, restored, recognized. To live a new life.

I collect their beauty and preserve it in my works.”

Yevhen Shtein presents his own installation project “Household Archeology” in the joint exhibition:

“I don't consider collecting to be part of my artistic practice.

Instead, a significant place in it belongs to working with kinetics, optics, and light. The project “Household Archaeology” aims to turn the hobby of collecting into a professional practice.

The objects on display carry a meaningful and emotional load for me and for those who participated in and are in the context of the collection's formation. However, for an outside viewer it should be an installation.

Each object is illuminated by a backlight, which makes it difficult to examine individual exhibits thoroughly and for a long time, but creates generalized outlines of objects and shadows, leaving details closed to the viewer, thus leveling their objectivity and offering an alternative counter-museum display.”

In the gallery space, we gradually rise from the cultural layer of our ancestors through the sand with artifacts, then the asphalt, and so on to the houses where our descendants live.

And among them are the AUXILIARY.

Texts by

Valerii Khadeiev

Anna Protsenko

Yevhen Shtein