Meet the Invisible Generation
2010-06-21
For three days this summer, the people of Kiev will find themselves in the middle of an art exhibition – without knowing it. The Invisible Generation is a project that will involve artists from Ukraine, Sweden and elsewhere giving twelve performances in public space.
“The idea is for people to be surprised by artistic works in the course of everyday life, in places where you’d least expect it,” says Yulia Usova, who has roots in Ukraine and now works as a curator in Sweden.
The founder of the Perfect Art Organization, she collaborates with artist Per Hüttner from Vision Forum. He has been working since 2009 on the Invisible Generation project, which has previously appeared in various guises in Beijing, Melbourne and Shenzhen.
Among the works in the project is a poetic performance by a Ukrainian artists’ commune designed to light up the greyness of everyday life in an unconventional way. In another work, entitled Private Contractors, the general public gets to choose books to be censored. Two separate video films about Majdan Square in Kiev (a focal point for demonstrations during the Orange Revolution) examine the significance of the place in both architectural and political terms.
Yulia Usova stresses the importance of these cultural exchanges for Ukrainian artists.
“Ukrainians have difficulty getting visas to other countries in Europe, so all external contacts are important,” she says. “I myself have learnt first-hand that exchanges like this can give you a completely new perspective.”