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You Know That You Are Human
travels to
The Countless Cities Biennial III
OPENING: 23 June 2023 @ 8pm EXHIBITION: 24 June 2023 – 28 January 2024 OPENING HOURS: Thursday – Saturday @ 4 – 7pm @ Farm Cultural Park, Favara & Mazzarino Corso Vittorio Emanuele 404, Mazzarino, Sicily Featuring: [Click on the name of each artist to see the bio and the work description below] You Know That You Are Human Valentyn Bo Sergey Melnitchenko Initiated by: IZOLYATSIA & MOMENTUM Curated by: Kateryna Filyuk The fourth iteration of the exhibition “You Know That You Are Human” is part of the third edition of the Countless Cities, the Biennial of the Cities of the world at Farm Cultural Park. The exhibition brings together works of 23 Ukrainian photographers. The third iteration of the exhibition “You Know That You Are Human” was part of the Kultursymposium Weimar 2023 and was hosted by Galerie EIGENHEIM Weimar. It’s was a joint undertaking of IZOLYATSIA, Ukraine and MOMENTUM, Berlin curated by Kateryna Filyuk and Rachel Rits-Volloch. “You Know That You Are Human” premiered in Berlin’s Zionskirche at the end of 2022, where it was matched with the group exhibition “POINTS of RESISTANCE V”. The second iteration of the show took place at THE gallery in Mürsbach, where it was enriched by the sculptures of the famous Ukrainian dissident artist Vadim Sidur. Now in its fourth edition, this traveling exhibition is itself an exercise in trust, taking on new forms in each location in cooperation with diverse partners. Addressing the topics raised by the Biennale against the background of growing uncertainty and multiple economical, ecological and political crisis hitting societies around the world, “You Know That You Are Human” seeks to zoom into a micro level and put forth the individual, the human being. It depicts human likeness in a diversity of forms, addressing the role which gender, occupation, geography and heritage play in defining the human position in the world. The title of the show is borrowed from a famous poem by one of the brightest Ukrainian poets of the sixties, Vasyl Symonenko, “Ти знаєш, що ти– людина/ You Know that You are a Human”. Part of the official school curriculum in Ukraine, the poem praises life and the uniqueness of each person, urging everyone to cherish each single moment. Today – during Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine – these simple but powerful verses call for humanity, solidarity, trust and cohesion with particular urgency. They remind us once again that despite the elusive monstrosity of war, every life counts. The works of the Ukrainian photographers also provide a crucial insight into the changes that have taken place in Ukrainian society since the 1960s, from the years when the dream of socialism gradually proved to be a failure until the last few months of the self-sacrificing struggle of the Ukrainians for their country.
You know that you are a human. Tomorrow you won’t be here present. Today all the world is for you: ‘Cause you on this Earth are a human. – Vasyl Symonenko
Aleksander Chekmenev
Maryna Frolova
Oleksander Glyadyelov
Paraska Plytka Horytsvit
Borys Gradov
Alena Grom
Viktor and Sergey Kochetov
Yulia Krivich
Sasha Kurmaz
Viktor Marushchenko
Boris Mikhailov with Mykola Ridnyi
Valeriy Miloserdov
Iryna Pap
Evgeniy Pavlov
Roman Pyatkovka
Natasha Shulte
Synchrodogs
Viktoriia Temnova
Mykola Trokh
You know that, or do you not?
That smile of yours is unique to you,
That torment of yours is unique to you,
Your eyes no other person has got.
Tomorrow on this blessed land
Others’ll be running and laughing,
Others’ll be feeling and loving;
Good people and bad ones, my friend.
Forests and hills, valleys deep.
So hurry to live, please, hurry!
So hurry to love, please, hurry!
Don’t miss out on it, don’t oversleep!
And whether you want it or not,
That smile of yours is unique to you,
That torment of yours is unique to you,
Your eyes no other person has got.
About The Countless Cities of the World Biennial:
Edition III – Pleasure and Cities
24 June 2023 – 28 January 2024
Favara and Mazzarino Farm Cultural Park
The Favara and Mazzarino Farm Cultural Park, one of the most vibrant and influential independent cultural centers in the contemporary art world, presents the third edition of Countless Cities, the biennial exhibition that tells the cities of the world. Theme of this edition: Pleasure and Cities. The third edition of Countless Cities, the biennial dedicated to the cities of the world designed and implemented by Farm Cultural Park, will take place from June 24, 2023 to January 28, 2024 in Favara and Mazzarino, two small urban centers in the heart of the most authentic Sicily, hosting the two main headquarters at Farm Cultural Park. Again this year, Countless Cities involves photographers, artists, architects and creatives from all over the world who, with different approaches and languages, tell the world’s cities, focusing on different aspects of the size of “pleasure” that lead to choosing one city over another. The three main themes of this edition: Laboratories of New Worlds. Is there an ideal city? This is the question that has driven urbanists, intellectuals, architects and philosophers over the centuries to design new realities that meet the needs of citizens, combining beauty and functionality. All over the world, small utopian, artistic, spiritual and environmentalist communities have proposed different models of “cities” through their daily practices. Nature in cities The Covid-19 pandemic has upturned our relationship with nature. Today there is a new, widespread and growing need for contact with plants, trees and gardens, vegetables to grow and activities to be done outdoors, in public spaces. Similarly, a new sensitivity for generational agriculture is spreading, which does not destroy resources but creates them, which builds bonds of trust and cooperation between producers, transforms and marketers. Youth power in our cities In the world there’s a new generation of young men and (even more) women, who are challenging the “status quo” and defying rules and customs, proposing new lifestyles and values, for the cities they live in and belong to.
About IZOLYATZIA
IZOLYATSIA is a non-profit non-governmental platform for contemporary culture founded in 2010 on the territory of a former insulation materials factory in Donetsk, Ukraine. On June 9, 2014, the territory was seized by the militia of the self-proclaimed “Donetsk People’s Republic”. IZOLYATSIA has relocated to a shipyard in Kyiv and continues to present cultural projects and support socially active artists and creative producers in Kyiv, throughout Ukraine, and worldwide, as well as serving as a resource for international curators, scholars, artists and ambassadors. IZOLYATSIA is the name inherited from the Donetsk factory, which previously produced insulation materials. The foundation’s mission is to inspire positive change in Ukraine by using culture as an instrument. It is a multidisciplinary cultural project open to all genres of creative expression. It is a point of intersection for all those passionate about cultural and social change. IZOLYATSIA has three intertwined directions of activity: art, education and projects geared at activating Ukraine’s creative sector. Owing to the unfolding war and humanitarian crisis in Ukraine as a result of Russia’s unprovoked full-scale invasion of Ukraine on 24 February 2022, IZOLYATSIA is shifting all of its organizational efforts towards our country’s resistance against the aggressor and supporting Ukrainians through these tragic times. Our most immediate priorities are: addressing the war-related needs of the communities, organizations, and self-organized individuals operating across the whole of Ukraine; support for internally displaced people and those seeking refuge abroad; support for artists, cultural and creative professionals in Ukraine and abroad; participation in cultural diplomacy, advocating the needs of the Ukrainian community in international cultural and political institutions. 