From July 14 till Augest 22 the exhibition ‘Cosmogony through a Ukrainian Eye’ will be held at Ukraine House in Washington, where sketches of fragments of the world’s largest painting ‘Cosmogony’ will be presented to the public.
The opening of the exhibition happened on July 14. It was attended by the Ambassador of Ukraine to the USA, Oksana Markarova, who addressed the visitors with a welcome speech.
The 2,000-square-meter painting (height – 10 m, width – 200 m) on the cosmogonic theme is part of a Ukrainian art project. Ukrainian artist Petro Antyp works on the painting and the idea of this project belongs to the founder of the Korsaks’ Museum of Ukrainian Modern Art, curator Viktor Korsak.
This project offers a unique Ukrainian vision of the history of the planet’s creation and development, as well as forecasting the future of humanity. ‘Cosmogony’ creates a dialogue, raises relevant questions and is the largest artistic project of Ukraine in the times of statehood.
Petro Antyp has been working on the painting since November 2022. This artistic action will last more than 3,000 hours for 18 months and will become the world’s largest performance.
The ‘Cosmogony’ project represents the synergy of various types of art: painting, graphics, sculpture, photo and video art, music and performance, augmented and virtual reality. This is a unique Ukrainian version of the art of the future, which has no analogues on the planet. In its essence, ‘Cosmogony’ is a picture from Ukrainians for the whole world about the whole planet. There is a story about the creation of the universe and the development of civilization to the present day in the plot of the painting.
The name of the ‘Cosmogony’ project comes from the Greek word ‘birth’. This is a conversation with the viewer about how ‘Someone, in some way, created something and someone, and about what this is all for’.
The canvas will consist of more than 600 fragments, each of which is a separate art object, and will be divided into several thematic parts: ‘The Big Bang’, ‘Creation of the Earth’, ‘Creation of Nature’, ‘Creation of Human’, ‘Creation of Society’, ‘Creation of culture’, ‘Creation of the noosphere’ and ‘Future’. Each part contains different myths, legends, scientific theories, symbols, signs and inscriptions of different nations and peoples.
An important feature of the project is the approach to the localization of the work of art. It is integrated into the production processes, since the distribution center is located in the hall where the painting is created and will be exhibited. Thus, art does not become separated from life, but becomes part of it. Both museum visitors and distribution center workers will be able to observe the live process of creating this picture and interact with each other, receiving a unique psycho-emotional experience.‘Cosmogony’ is of great national importance and can already be
considered a cultural heritage of Ukraine.
The project has already been presented in Europe, in Paderborn (Germany). Now it’s the turn of the USA.
Additional information:
The Korsaks’ Museum of Ukrainian Modern Art was opened in Lutsk in 2018 to develop the spirituality of the nation and promote Ukrainian art in the world. It is the largest museum institution of modern Ukrainian art in Ukraine and one of the largest museums in Europe. The exhibition area of the museum is more than 12,000 square meters. During the four years of its existence, hundreds of large-scale exhibitions, festivals and art events were held.
