In the context of the exhibition “”Antanas Ingelevičius: Creator and City” we are proud to present the first event that forms the body of the public programme dedicated to the exhibition. Departing from the topic of the relationship between the artist and the city, the exhibition Dark Air features the condensed ‘dark air of history’ with photographic images of socialist monuments in the public realm of the Ukrainian cities. As described by curator Vladimir Vidmar, “Dark Air emphasizes the distance between the past and its historical representation, determined by ideology. Photographs comprising “Dark Air” show military monuments from the Soviet era: the official canon of memory, in glaring contrast to memory archived, and to personal memory as a backdrop for the monument. The monument may be perceived in reverse to “unrecognized” memory, a thing continued and extended over time. Its illusionary “dark clots” become a separate component of the image, distorting perception. Rather than dissecting the ideology of post-communism by apologetically showcasing the breakthroughs of the Soviet era, Nikita Kadan takes the political stance by reflecting both through an agonistic logic.“

Since the work of Nikita Kadan seems to critically grasp the shifts of different historical times, his artworks are not brought materially from Belgium where they are stored at the moment, but as ephemeral video projections onto sculptural white elements – in shape of ruins, as a symbol of foundations at the same time. The ruins are growing from under the ground, representing the fragments of violence and resistance, fragility and cultural robustness all at once.

The work of Nikita Kadan (b. 1982, Kiev) explores n of post-communist social and political developments through the drawings, paintings, and photography as well as objects, sculptures, and installations. Nikita Kadan is a member of the artists’ group R.E.P. (Revolutionary Experimental Space) and co-founder of the activists’ group Hudrada. In many of his works Nikita Kadan uses architecture and the city landscape as a tool and a medium, he reinterprets the archival photographs as a means of capitalist appropriation of the past, and often, as in his series „Dark Air“, using the oppressive visual language to highlight the violence, present both in capitalist and in communist and even in the „in-between“ regimes.
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This event and an exhibition is part of the public programme dedicated to the exhibition „Antanas Ingelevičius: Creator and the City“ running currently at the House of Histories, T. Kosciuškos str. 3, Vilnius, Lithuania. Besides showcasing photographs by the hitherto unknown photographer Antanas Ingelevičius and telling the story about the 20th century, 3 dec. Kaunas, „Antanas Ingelevičius: Creator and the City“ exhibition also raises questions about the relationship between the artist and the city. Through this particular topic of the relationship between the artist and the city we connect the thread of all the public programming of the show.

Curator of the public programme – Justė Kostikovaitė

Exhibition architect – Sigita Simona Paplauskaitė

Graphic designer – Rokas Sutkaitis

All artworks courtesy Galerie Transit, Mechelen, Belgium

Supporter of the event: brewery Kuro Aparatūra

Private supporter – Chris Watson

Thanks to the “Galerie Mechelen”

Artists fee goes toward supporting Ukraine