The Ministry of Culture and Tourism of Ukraine and the PinchukArtCentre are pleased to announce that Illya Chichkan (Ukraine) and Mihara Yasuhiro (Japan) will be representing Ukraine at the 53rd Venice Biennale. The exhibition’s title will be, Steppes of Dreamers. Peter Doroshenko PinchukArtCentre’s artistic director, will be the commissioner.

Working together in the uncharted boundary where art and fashion meet, the collaborative effort between Illya Chichkan and Mihara Yasuhiro will examine the past, present and future of the Eurasian landscape through various cinema metaphors – inspired by the great Ukrainian film director, Kira Muratova. Their four large-scale art installations, inside and outside of the Palazzo Papadopali, will be ambitious projects for the Biennale. Both Illya Chichkan and Mihara Yasuhiro will demonstrate a single, unique vision regarding travel, identity and consciousness.

Peter Doroshenko, Commissioner of the Ukrainian Pavilion: “Ukraine has always been an interconnecting point for cultural, social and economic routes that extend from West to East. Illya Chichkan at one point in his life was a fashion designer and then later became an artist. Mihara Yasuhiro started out as an artist and then became a fashion designer. Volodymyr Klitchko, the world champion boxer, has been appointed curator for the exhibition. Their varied backgrounds will create an important dialogue around identity and roles issues in society today.”

Victor Pinchuk, Philanthropist: “It is a great honour for the PinchukArtCentre to be asked by the Ministry of Culture to organize the Ukrainian Pavilion in the Venice Biennale for the second time. As a nation, Ukraine is becoming integrated into the world’s infrastructure, including art. It is very clear that every two years, the Biennale is the place where the global art world intersects and creative dialogue takes place. It is important for Ukraine to be present in Venice”.

This year’s 53rd Venice Biennale, Making Worlds, will run from 7 June to 22 November 2009. The Biennale will include 77 national pavilions and 38 parallel projects by different international organisations and institutions. Art pavilions will be located in the Giardini, Arsenale and other venues within the city.

Steppes of Dreamers press viewing will take place at 14.00 on Thursday 4 June 2007.

Background information:

Location:
Ukrainian Pavilion
Palazzo Papadopoli
San Polo, 1364
30125 Venice, Italy

Organising Institutions:
PinchukArtCentre
Ministry of Culture and Tourism of Ukraine

Illya Chichkan was born in 1967 in Kyiv. Illya Chichkan can be regarded as one of the founders of the Ukrainian art movement New Wave, formed in the early 1990s and is one of the most internationally exhibited artists living in Ukraine. Chichkan has taken part in various exhibitions, including: Reflection, PinchukArtCentre (Kyiv, 2007); Manifesta 5, San-Sebastian (Spain, 2004); and the Sao Paulo International Biennale (Brazil, 1996).

Mihara Yasuhiro was born in 1972 in Nagasaki, Japan. As a student at Tama Art University, he started developing designs for his own footwear brand, opening his first boutique in 1998. In 2001, in collaboration with Puma, Mihara launched a special footwear collection PUMA by Miharayasuhiro. For the past few years, Yasuhiro has been active in both women’s and men’s clothing shows in both Milan and Paris.

PinchukArtCentre PinchukArtCentre is one of the largest centres for contemporary art in the Eastern Europe, opening in September 2006. The PinchukArtCentre organises exhibitions by leading international and Ukrainian artists and supports various other cultural art initiatives. To the date, the PinchukArtCentre has organised ten major exhibitions with over 500.000 visitors. In 2007, the PinchukArtCentre organised the Ukrainian Pavilion at the 52nd Venice Biennale entitled - Poem about an Inland Sea.

The Victor Pinchuk Foundation Established in 2006 by businessman and philanthropist Victor Pinchuk, the Victor Pinchuk Foundation is one of the largest private philanthropic organizations in Ukraine. The Foundation develops and implements social projects aimed at modernising Ukraine and nurturing a new generation of Ukrainian leaders.

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