Dnipropetrovsk School of Photography (Ukraine, 1970 - 80s)
© Yuri Brodsky
About The Exhibition
Exhibition Curators: Lyolya Goldstein, Masha Khrushchak
In 1970 - 1980s, the city under an unpronounceable name of Dniepropetrovsk in the then Soviet Ukraine was a closed locality. The city’s classified munitions industry put a ban on entry for any curious foreign visitors. Even musicians from the Warsaw Pact states weren’t allowed to perform there at that time, and local inhabitants had to travel to neighboring cities for a bit of non-Soviet entertainment.
It was probably this special status to which the city owed its monotonous architectural mediocrity and the general downbeat mood. Its local inhabitants alone were not worth the Potemkin village front expenditure, the effort normally saved for the eyes of Westerners in the Soviet Union.
Such an atmosphere must have had a say in prevailing artistic mindsets. The images by five photographers showcased in this exhibition confirm the theory: the isolated ambience, the discernible existential angst of a city dweller evident even in picturesque rural settings (Semen Prosiak's Sedniv) and at the Crimean seashore (Yuri Brodsky), or disguised behind Mark Milov's dexterous monocle simulations.
The group owes its recognition and the trendy "School" title to the 1998 exhibition at the Soros Center for Contemporary Art in Moscow. It took the artists another 17 years to be recognized at home: the 2015 exhibition and a 200 page album was published in the recently renamed city of Dnipro in independent Ukraine.
Now, with this publication VASA Project is presenting this notable 1970 - 1980s photographic phenomenon to the international audience. This exhibition has been curated by Lyolya Goldstein and Masha Khrushchak from Kiev.
© Igor Manko, 2017
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On VASA Exhibitions:
VASA Exhibitions over the years have provided a platform for individual and group exhibitions, collaborative exhibitions with various organizations and galleries and exhibitions that follow a particular theme or inquiry such as “Where Do We Go Now” curated by Rui Cepeda and the “Kharkiv School of Photography: Soviet Censorship to New Aesthetics” curated by Igor Manko.
VASA Exhibitions are international and multicultural. The curatorial team has strived to present work that not only represents the photographers but also the social, historical and cultural. As an online international project, VASA works to engage various digital tools. Video, as an example, not only offers the potential for the presentation of works, it provides the opportunity and framework for the voice of the author to be seen and heard. Through image, text, sound and animation, VASA works to expand the exhibition paradigm and provide a rich experience for the viewer (as well as the author).
VASA Exhibitions provides a viewing and research environment by archiving all of the exhibitions in their entirety. For example, the viewer may view a 2009 exhibition as it was presented and not just traces of its existence.
VASA Exhibitions (a program in VASA) includes images, videos and sound works.