History

PinchukArtCentre is an international centre for contemporary art of the 21st century. It is an open platform for the artists, the art work and society.

The PinchukArtCentre is located in the Kyiv’s historic architectural complex in the Besarabsky area that underwent a major renovation in the beginning of the 21st century. Both architectural and interior design for the art centre was developed by a French architect, Philippe Chiambaretta. The PinchukArtCentre occupies six floors, with exhibition spaces on four floors, a video-lounge and a café on the top floor. The total area of the exhibition centre adds up to over 4000 sq. metres.

Since the opening, the art centre has become a favourite spot for young Ukrainians, city-dwellers and numerous international visitors to Ukraine’s capital. With visitor friendly viewing hours (12.00 to 21.00) and free-of-charge entrance, the Centre provides an outstanding opportunity to become immersed in the very best contemporary art possible. With the PinchukArtCentre, Kyiv has thus become a new destination point for global contemporary art.

To the date, the PinchukArtCentre has presented major exhibitions: 

• “New Space”, an opening exhibition by the various international and Ukrainian artists; 
• “Generations.UsA”, a group show with twenty young Ukrainian and American artists; 
• “Vik Muniz: A Survey”, an exhibition by the well-known Brazilian artist Vik Muniz; 
• “An Instinctive Eye”, a selection of contemporary photography from the Sir Elton John Collection; 
• “REFLECTION”, a recent acquisitions exhibition including artists such as: Serhiy Bratkov, Antony Gormley, Andreas Gursky, Damien Hirst, Jeff Koons and Takashi Murakami; 
• “Mariko Mori: Oneness”, a large scale exhibition by the Japanese artist, Mariko Mori; 
• “Paul McCartney — Paintings”, a survey exhibition of paintings by Sir Paul McCartney;
• “Rhine on The Dnipro: Julia Stoschek Collection / Andreas Gursky”, a thematic video art exhibition with seventeen international artists and major one-person photography exhibition. 
• Exhibition of the British artist Sam Taylor-Wood and “21 RUSSIA”, a group showcase of contemporary Russian artists. 
• “ REQUIEM”, the largest retrospective show of the British artist Damien Hirst. 
• Exhibition of 20 shortlisted artists for the PinchukArtCentre Prize and a group show of Ukrainian artists of the elder generation “RED FOREST”; 
• Two parallel solo exhibitions: “Faith Matters” by Indian Subodh Gupta and “Ukraine” by Sergey Bratkov.

In the spring of 2008, the Art Centre introduced the concept of the Project Room — a special series of exhibitions by the young and emerging artists. Exhibitions have included: «Pastime Paradise» by Christina Solomukha (France/Ukraine); «East Art Map» by IRWIN (Slovenia); «Patriotism. Art as a Present» by R.E.S. (Ukraine); «Dreamers» by SOSka (Ukraine) and a solo exhibition by Keita Sugiura (Japan).

In 2007 and 2009, PinchukArtCentre officially organized the Ukrainian Pavilion at the 52nd and 53rd Biennale in Venice, with projects “A Poem About an Inland Sea” and “Steppes of Dreamers” respectively.

In late 2008, the PinchukArtCentre Prize was announced: the first national prize for young artists up to 35 years old. 20 shortlisted artists were selected out of more than 1100 applications and an international jury chose the winners of the Main Prize and two Special Prizes among them. Artem Volokitin from Kharkiv won the Main Prize, and Masha Shubina and Olexiy Salmanov got two Special Prizes. The PinchukArtCentre Prize award ceremony was held on December 4, 2009.

On December 8, 2009, the Victor Pinchuk Foundation announced the establishment of the Future Generation Art Prize, a new large-scale international competition for artists up to 35 years old, with the PinchukArtCentre acting as the organizer.

As of end 2009, the total number of the PinchukArtCentre since its opening reached about 900 000 people.