THE SOCIOCULTURAL CONTEXT OF UKRAINIAN VISUAL ART FROM THE CHERNOBYL ACCIDENT TO THE PRESENT

Abstract

Studying the socio-cultural context of the visual art of Ukraine in the first quarter of the 21st century, one should pay attention to the factors that shaped the visual art of the declared period. First of all, we are talking about globalization changes that took place during the last two decades of the 20th and early 20th centuries. The second important factor is European integration and artists' efforts to get rid of the post-colonial stereotype. An important link in development is technological progress, which fundamentally changes the new cultural paradigm. An example can be digitalization, which not only helps the comprehensive study of artistic processes of the past, but also forms a new storage module for that artistic product that was not previously preserved for researchers.
Changes in the consciousness of the Ukrainian artistic society did not happen immediately. Ukrainian artists began to actively explore national history, mythology, and folk traditions in the mid-1980s. Bright irritants of the public opinion of that time were the creative groups of artists that took place in the houses of creativity in Sedniv, Gurzuf on the territory of Ukraine and in Dzintar, Mayer on the territory of the Baltic republics. The national component was actively developed in the informal exhibitions of the artistic association "Poglyad" in Kyiv, which was initiated by the monumental art section of KONSHU (Kyiv Organization of the National Union of Artists of Ukraine). Such exhibitions were held outside the artistic councils of the National Union of Artists of Ukraine (NSHU) in the premises of KPI (Kyiv Polytechnic Institute) and in the premises of Sofia of Kyiv on the choirs of the second floor.Even during the reign of the official artistic method of socialist realism, progressive Ukrainian artists were looking for opportunities to create new forms to perpetuate folk images, portraits of national heroes (Cossacks, writers) in their works. Artists created works where the main characters were blacksmiths, heroes of folk epics, prominent personalities. This is how forgotten or forbidden images of national pride were revived. These works were not often included in official art exhibitions, but their number was actively increasing. The turning point was 1991, when Independence was officially proclaimed.
The proposed study uses cultural and sociocultural analyzes as well as interdisciplinary approaches. But the main goal is to publicize one's own author's experience as a direct participant in the artistic process of the Ukrainian cultural field. The author draws attention to little or insufficiently studied aspects in the formation of artistic practices at the turn of the 20th - 21st centuries in Ukraine.