Integration failed?

Today, the management of the museum has allowed modern art to enter the house of the Khanenko. Young artists had the opportunity to exhibit their works in one of the most famous museums in Kyiv, to use the halls and equipment of the museum for their own projects ... but something did not go according to plan. "Meanwhile in the House of the Khanenko" is not the first exhibition of modern art in the museum, but so far it is one of the few and the first of such a large scale - many authors, many works, a lot of space. According to the idea of the creators, the exhibition has 3 main themes;

"Where are we talking from?" The exhibition aims to tell about who and how it was created.
"Selection criteria" According to what criteria are the works admitted to the museum? How are they sorted? Who and how chooses what to save first?
"Love" is a cross-cutting theme. Because the Khanenko Museum is a child and an act of love. Our residence here is an act of loving care.
However, the works that are placed in the place of the museum's exhibits do not reflect the theme that was laid down.
There was an attempt to integrate contemporary art into the space of a classical museum, but it failed.
When you look at the works, moving from one hall to another, they do not stick at all, do not broadcast, do not fill the mind with meanings and thoughts.
The exhibition does not unite artists around a theme, object or concept, but divides them and their works into fragments, which are difficult for the viewer to combine into a coherent story. The fact that the halls were empty also strongly influenced the perception of the exhibition as unsuccessful. The emptiness is not justified, not justified and not filled with a deep subtext, just a wasteland that is automatically replaced by silk wallpaper and stucco walls of the museum, and the works of artists in these halls seem to be out of context, separated from something integral.
Some new exhibits, which have taken the place of the permanent collection of the Khanenko, do not seem to correspond to the theme of the project at all and seem superfluous.
In the project, of course, there are also very successful solutions.
It turned out wonderfully to combine the museum space with the works of Oleksiy Shmurak. His sound installations are perfectly inscribed both in the exposition and in the museum itself, creating a special atmosphere and complementing the impression of staying in its premises. Oleksiy skillfully used the premises of the Khanenko' house to create not only visual, but also acoustic effects, which are harmoniously correlated with the themes of the exhibition.
There is a desire to explore these installations, to listen and re-listen to every sound, creak.

Also, an example of a successful combination of modern and classic can be called a chandelier, or rather its shadow, which is placed with the help of a backlight on the wall of one of the halls of the museum. This installation best matches the given themes of the project. It is through it that you can "read" the main ideas of the exhibition. This play of light and shadow is a meaningful and meaningful void that creates a certain mysticism that complements the concept of the exhibition.
So, in conclusion, for a successful mix of modern art and heavy classics, it is not enough to simply place exhibits in the room, it is necessary to continue gaining experience in this direction, to develop and improve your methods, identifying and correcting failures. Focusing attention on the problems that arise during the interaction of modern and classical directions of art, it is worth noting that along with successful solutions (which are present in this project), there are always failures. It is important to remember that their detection and correction is an integral stage in the development of the cultural industry, which requires constant analysis and evaluation to ensure the improvement of the quality of art projects in general, as well as the successful integration of contemporary art into classical art in particular.

The text was prepared by Daria Pozhidayeva, an art critic and art manager of the Imagine Point gallery