“If there is no water running from your tap” – a solo exhibition by Ukrainian artist Oleksandr Roytburd in the context of РАС-UA
As part of the РАС-UA PinchukArtCentre presents the third project – a solo exhibition by Oleksandr Roytburd. The show entitled If there is no water running from your tap will be open to public on the 5th floor at the PAC-UA space in the context of the Collection Platform from October 29 to November 27, 2012.
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The show includes a number of portraits of the famous Ukrainians and world icons such as Vitaliy and Volodymyr Klitchko, Alexander Pushkin, Taras Shevchenko, Lev Tolstoy and Andy Warhol. The artist depicts these personalities as Hasids, telling a story of “hidden Jews” of the Soviet Union era. At that time the majority of Jews was ashamed or even afraid to reveal their nationality, as there were limitations for Jews applying for certain jobs, entering universities or joining the communist party.
Talking about this series of works Oleksandr Roytburd says: “In this case the phrase “There is no water running from your tap” is a quotation from the song “The Jews Are All Around” by a soviet underground performer Konstantin Beliayev. On one hand the author plays here with anti-Semitic stereotypes of being surrounded by them, on the other with a certain Jewish stereotype which treats everybody around as Jews and is deeply interested in who else is Jew, whose wife is Jew etc. In this song Beliayev brings it to the level of absurdity, mixing characters who are real Jews with those who are not. For example Ernest Hemingway and some Soviet characters such as Voroshilov, Budyonov and Khrushchev become hidden Jews, though in reality none of them has anything to do with Jews.”
PAC-UA located on the 5th floor of the PinchukArtCentre is a space in the context of the Collection Platform for new projects created by Ukrainian artists. PAC-UA offers a window for new produced works of Ukrainian artists with a view to research ongoing artistic processes within the country and support strong and long-term collaboration between the PinchukArtCentre and Ukrainian artists. With its PAC-UA project, PinchukArtCentre presents a new special dynamic and flexible program line for Ukrainian artists that will be showcased in a dedicated space for a period of one month.
