Text by CLOT Magazine
The first Ukrainian Biennale of Digital and Media Art was a unique, innovative cultural event that took from 15 to 30 October 2021. The Ukrainian Cultural Foundation, the Spanish Embassy in Ukraine and the Spanish Development Agency (AECID) supported the biennale. Over 50 contemporary works from 15 countries were presented at the modern media gallery ARTAREA in Kyiv.
The central theme of the Biennale is «30 Years of Freedom», which aims to understand the state of independence of Ukrainians and the phenomenon of human freedom in the post-COVID-19 era through modern digital art forms. The works selected for this first edition span from audiovisual and interactive installations to video art, VR and NFT exhibits from artists from Spain, France, Italy, Great Britain, the Netherlands, Germany, Portugal, Scotland, Romania, Iran, Canada, Japan, South Korea and Ukraine.
Valeriy Korshunov, the curator of the Biennale, shared with us Through contemporary works of international artists, we present a view from the inside – Ukraine and from the outside through the involvement of international artists, an international curator and an international program. Today, culture and art are taking on new forms. Thanks to the latest technologies, we are being spoken to in a more modern language of media and digital art at all levels of perception of the critical, painful, subconscious, and complex. They demonstrate the flourishing of modern technologies, their capabilities, depth of penetration, strength and beauty because art is always the spirit of the era, reflecting the culture of a particular time.
Art challenges and changes reality. Art explores what makes us human and helps us understand the chaos surrounding us. Our exhibits fit best into the biennial “30 years of freedom” idea. It is about human freedom through art and modern processes. About a particular microcosm of modern cultures, about the importance of demonstrating the breadth of the combination of beauty and poetry with technology. The digital side of art already has mutations — in recent years, there has been a new viewer’s behaviour towards art, added international curator Yuri Lech.
Artists participating include AFTERSHOCK, Herman Kolgen, Taya Kabayeva, Ujif_notfound, Voin Oruwu, Simon Kounovsky aka Axonbody, SAINT MACHINE + Sergiu Negulici, Marie-France Giraudon, Chih-Ming Fa, Solimán López, Weiming Ho, Urich Lau, Tobias Gremmler, Hernando Urrutia, Eugenio Ampudia Melgar, Mohamadreza Tazari and Marta Di Francesco, among many others.
