[Евгений]

Against the background of the artistic life, and indeed life in Kyiv, art center Viktor Pinchuk looks a fairy tale. Competitors, part of Contemporary Art in Pinchuk's just not - the closest, Igor Voronov, engaged in what an incredible buys and is proud to modern casting sculptures by Rodin ( "art critics in raptures and do not believe my eyes," - writes the local press). Pinchuk Center, with its free entry, "Great Western names, flawless, absolutely white designer cafes and last numbers of Frieze and Artforum in the public domain attracts a young crowd, here are the queue, and it is not surprising that Pinchuk has announced the construction of the new center.

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For the young audience there is a lot, more and more, now devised a system to obtain information about the artists directly to mobile phone and vote for the audience award. Vote should be for the best young artist - the PinchukArtCentre exhibition opened nominations for the prize, which is so lucky, not mentioning any names or Repin, or Kandinsky, Tatlin no - none of those who may be more or less loosely be considered a classic of Ukrainian. It's called PinchukArtCentre Prize.

Applications for the contest served artists themselves, by e-mail. Professional or not, it does not matter - the main thing that the Ukrainian, which would be under this or understand (not necessarily living in the Ukraine) and up to 35 years. His candidacy filed more than a thousand people that much. At the first stage of the application selected the curatorial staff of the center, short-list of twenty people was launched in February. Then decided to give the artists an opportunity to show more and new projects. Now all of these works are exhibited and declared the jury: it is also well known in Moscow and the Italian-American curator, Francesco Bonami, Tate Modern curator Jessica Morgan, director of the New National Gallery in Berlin Udo Kittelman and two Ukrainian-Russian artist - Boris Mikhailov and Sergey Bratkov . The exhibition makes a much more favorable impression than the exhibition of Kandinsky's contenders for the prize: it is easy to see, lacks the pathos of wealth and very clear on the concept and procedure (only the young artists, and only put forward its own candidate). Judging by everything, and the prize itself, and the exhibition will play in the Ukrainian context, a very important role.

December 4 jury will award the winners of three professional awards: the main, to 100 thousand hryvnia (now about 13 thousand dollars, though, when the prize was announced, it was about 20), and two smaller ones. Prize winners will receive more and three internships in the workshops of famous artists - from Antony Gormley in London Olafur Eliasson in Berlin, and Andreas Serrano in New York.

The idea of these internships seem strange in two respects. First, teacher candidates were selected (I hope) before the candidate selected as winners. But suddenly the painter to win - why should he sent to the sculptor or photographer Gormley Serrano? Or the very existence of Gormley in the list means that this internship is reserved for the sculptor Joan Kadyrova? This is something all right, Jeanne, and the truth is the most powerful young artist in Kiev, but if you pick the nominees from among the photographers "by Serrano, can come confusion. These are, but they are very weak.

Secondly, young artists are usually sent for training in some institutions, centers, and not to the individual. In Eliasson really a factory for producing his enormous installations, employing engineers, hydraulics, astronomers, lawyers and accountants. Same with Serrano and Gormley, these sharks art production. What is there to do the young artist, it is not clear, the position of junior manager at the plant that would give him little. We could talk about, say, a three-month training in any art school, but not to participate in the conveyor art industry.

But the fact is that the whole ideology PinchukArtCentre completely subordinated to the art-industry, industry performance, which in the first place Star, on the second - expensive project, and only the third, and somewhere in the distance, art as a cognitive activity. PinchukArtCentre, for example, and Moscow "Garage" (another classic example of a private foundation with huge ambitions), is not just outside the non-profit art centers, vnepravitelstvennyh art institutions and art schools, but they might not even be aware of the existence of this huge and powerful system that supports creativity and research, rather than the consumption of art.

Landmark for Pinchuk, as for the "garage", a museum. For him the treasure, probably, the most prestigious type of institution in general. And if Viktor Pinchuk (as Roman Abramovich) could buy the entire collection at once New York's MoMA, he would have done it .......
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Exhibition of nominees for the prize PinchukArtCentre Prize is open to PinchukArtCentre in Kiev on December 20