Art Residency Program is a new project launched by IZOLYATSIA. The aim of the project is to attract the attention of international artists to Donetsk and the region as a space with a great potential for cultural development. The project offers artists to work on a proposed curatorial theme, and by immersing themselves within an unfamiliar environment, to create works, which are a reflection of their understanding of Donetsk as a social and cultural phenomenon.
In the summer of 2011, this project will unite in Donetsk eight international photographers, selected after an open-call application, for a month long residency. Under the curatorial guidance of Boris Mikhailov, the photographers are invited to embark on a creative journey, where they are to retrace and reexamine the city’s aesthetic field, giving it their own qualification. The residency will be held on the territory of a former insulation materials plant, within a hundred meters form the IZOLYATSIA art-centre. IZOLYATSIA is situated in the industrial outskirts of Donetsk, surrounded by numerous factories, some of which are still active. A breathtaking view of the industrial kingdom can be observed from the top of the slag-heap (terrikon), which stands adjacent to the Izolyatsia gallery space. This is a unique opportunity to become immersed in an industrial setting of the 20th century, and to experience first-hand the transition from industrialisation to post-industrialisation. Although IZOLYATSIA is located on the periphery of Donetsk, one may access the city centre, as well as other industrial and mining cities of the region, with public transport.
Residency 2011
Topic: Partly Cloudly
Curator: Boris Mikhailov
Boris Mikhailov is the only ukrainian and post-soviet artist to hold the Hasselblad prize. He is also the winner of many other honorary awards. His monograph “Unfinished Dissertation” is recognised as one of the most significant photography books to have ever been published. Although his status as a photographer was unofficial during the Soviet era, he was already then considered to be a legendary artist. And that’s not all. In the words of the director of the Munich Pinakothek, Mikhailov “is not even so much a photographer, as one of the most fascinating artists of the day.” Artists will be asked to shoot a series of photographs reflecting their vision of this year’s theme: Partly Cloudy/Переменная Облачность. “Partly Cloudy” is a phrase we frequently hear on weather forecast but somehow we have become numb to its ambiguous meaning. Does it not stand for so much more than just a weather prognosis? What does this combination of words actually mean? Do we need sunglasses to go outside? Do we need an umbrella? What changes are brought to our city with different light? How does the city change the weather? How do people change when everything around them is shifting? Are there clouds in their souls? How do you see post-industrial Donetsk? The city is surely in a state of transition – there are days when the sun can't get through the black smoke but then there are others when it shines brightly making the smoggy clouds fade away into obscurity.
© Boris Mikhailov
© Boris Mikhailov
IZOLYATSIA's residency program has a two-fold mission. On the one hand, this residency program is an opportunity for young artists from all over the world to develop their artistic vision through a confrontation with a very powerful and aesthetically unique setting of the Donetsk region. On the other hand, it is also an opportunity for local artists to be inspired by others’ views of their own city, and a possibility to bring out the region from its cultural and social isolation. IZOLYATSIA aims to hold one residency program per year.
