Kiev: bringing Ukrainian contemporary art online

EUNIC in Ukraine is announcing the launch of the Kyiv Offline project. Kyiv Offline aims at a better connection of Ukrainian contemporary art to the world stage. The projects consists of an international workshop for online platforms on arts and culture from different regions of Europe. The workshop is to be held during 5 days in Kyiv, at the end of November 2010. Participants will be 20-25 international art-journalists, critics, theorists presenting different online platforms and journals on contemporary art and culture and Ukrainian art-journalists and critics. The guests come from Austria, Poland, Serbia, UK and USA.
 
During 4 days, a working group will strive to gain common vision of the current state and perspectives of online platforms and to work out tools for further cooperation within a network and as partners of joint projects. The last day will see a final panel discussion open to all interested audience and media.
Conclusions are to be summed up into an article translated and published on all participating platforms. A network of online platforms is also to be created. 
 
The project addresses the communication gap between Ukraine and European countries. Culture and arts most obviously reflect society’s mode of existence. They expose its wounds and weak sides. Ukrainian culture shows its inability to look at its present state with eyes open. Contemporary art as a mirror of social consciousness in most countries around the globe stays either decorative element of luxury for the rich or exquisite mostly esoteric experience for a narrow professional circle. 
 
Ukraine lacks both experts in contemporary art and authors writing about the local situation and able to analyze it as compared to the international stage. In the mean time information about Ukrainian art is hardly available abroad. Kyiv Offline aims at a better connection of Ukrainian contemporary art to the world.