Boris Mikhailov: Ukraine

The first exhibition will be an extensive retrospective dedicated to Boris Mikhailov, among the most important living artists to have grown up in the ex-Soviet Union.
The central theme of the show –made up of over 300 items – is the author’s homeland, Ukraine: recounted, described and deformed over a time span stretching from the ‘60s up to the recent Euromaidan revolution.
The exhibition itinerary thus develops three different directives, each combined and intertwining with the others: the last 50 years of history of Ukraine may be traced, from its Soviet past to independence right up to the latest revolutions, which have brought this country into the media spotlight, making it crucial stage for the dressing of global political and economic balances; Mikhailov’s artistic career, characterised by an endless series of experimentations with a diverse range of media and aesthetics; lastly, it may be noted how the theme of Ukraine has been progressively integrated into Mikhailov’s work, shifting from documentation to reconstruction, from theatricalisation to diary-writing, and from the narrative to the anti-narrative.
Ukraine includes 9 series, each representative of a key moment in the articulation of the exhibition themes: Superimpositions (1968-75), Black Archive (1968-79), Red Series (1968-75), Luriki(1976-81), Crimean Snobbism (1981), At Dusk (1993), Case History (1997-98), Tea Coffee Cappuccino (2000-2010) and The Theater of War (2013).
Mikhailov’s images allow us to move through the life and works of one of the key figures in the history of contemporary art, at the same time piecing back together an alternative and personal version of an entire national historiography.

The exhibition will be accompanied by a publication which cannot simply be considered a catalogue. Instead of including the works on show, it is in fact dedicated to a selection of more than 500 photographs gathered by Mikhailov over the years to make up a sort of personal diary. An essay examining the theme addressed in the exhibition – the Ukrainian artist’s ongoing reflections on his homeland – is coupled with various different images, constituting a sort of final room that visitors may explore privately once the visit is over.

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