Projects

MUHi (Young Ukrainian Artists) is the first independent nationwide competition for young Ukrainian artists under the age of 35 launched in 2009 on the initiative of Marina Shcherbenko, the founder and curator of Bottega Gallery and Shcherbenko Art Centre.

The objective of this project is to help creative individuals express themselves, to promote young artists who seek to develop and follow the latest global art trends, who actively produce their own original ideas and designs. The project is specifically focused on discovering new names on Ukraine’s contemporary art scene.

Applications for this year’s MUHi contest opened in March 2015. The competition finalists and winners were selected by an international expert commission consisting of the following art experts:

Tatiana Tumasyan – curator, gallery owner, Kharkiv Municipal Gallery director.

Oksana Barshynova – art historian, senior researcher at the research department for the XX – beginning of XXI century art at the National Art Museum of Ukraine, curator.

Kateryna Taylor – cultural project manager, co-founder of the Platform for Contemporary Art.

Nadim Samman – curator, co-founder of the Import-Projects, the Near East Magazine editor.

Janusz Baldyga – artist, performer, teacher, curator of the Days of performance art in Lviv.

Ten competition finalists saw their artwork displayed at an exhibition held in Kyiv at the Modern Art Research Institute from 25 November until 5 December 2015.

The MUHi 2015 finalists were:
Bogdan Volynskiy (Kharkiv)
Daria Koltsova (Kyiv)
Dana Kosmina (Kyiv)
Oksana Pyzh (Kharkiv)
Anton Saienko (Kyiv)
Andrew Sakun (Kyiv)
Boris Slazhnyev (Kyiv)
Supovoy Nabor group (Pyotr Vladimirov, Kyiv, Yevgeniy Koroletov, Dnipropetrovsk region).
Oma Shu (Kharkiv)
Yaryna Shumska (Lviv)

The MUHi 2015 Grand Prix, along with an award of UAH 40,000, was presented to Daria Koltsova for her ‘Theory of Defence’ project. The Supovoy Nabor group, consisting of Pyotr Vladimirov and Yevgeniy Koroletov, received a special Topical Theme award for their ‘Black Olymp’ project.

Anton Saienko received a special award for the Best Conceptual Design for his ‘Narrative Formula’ project. The winners in special nominations were awarded with UAH 15,000 prizes.

According to the competition rules, the winners received half of their respective awards in cash, while another half will go towards realisation of personal projects at the Shcherbenko Art Centre space or under its auspices in 2016.

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