ATELIER NORMALE is the first collective show of a group of artists with and without Down Syndrome who have worked together in a self-organised artistic studio since last year. The studio was founded by Stanislav Turina, Kateryna Libkind, Valeria Tarasenko and Olena Vasyk in autumn 2018. That was an important artistic gesture for the founders and a further stage in careers for emerging artists Anna Lytvynova, Yevhen Golubentsev, Danylo Gorpenchenko, Valentyn Radchenko, Oleksandr Steshenko and Anastasia Dudnik. Similar shows were a starting point for American artist Judith Scott whose work was exhibited in the main project of the 54th Venice Biennale in 2017. As well as for Birgit Ziegert who exhibited in Kunstforum Wien this year.
The exhibition presents works made by students and tutors of the studio and reveals the relationships between them. Curators are convinced in the exhibition’s success, “First and foremost these are exceptional and beautiful works. The studio is not only a place that allows for a more thoughtful practice for its students, but also an important professional step for the tutors who can reconsider their work in dialogue with emerging colleagues. This is important.”
The studio was founded within the project “What is important” organised by the Goethe-Institute in Ukraine together with The Naked Room curators, Maria Lanko and Lizaveta German. The project focused on the lives of people with Down syndrome through the works of artists Alevtina Kakhidze, Andriy Sagaidakovskiy, Illya Chichkan, Kyryl Protsenko among others. The exhibition that was on view at IZone in Kyiv and the Museum of Modern Art in Odessa responded to the questions of love and death, social bonds and personal identity issues—issues that are essential for many people. The catalogue of “What is important” project will be presented at the opening of “Atelier Normale” show.
