{"id":8295,"date":"2019-10-07T16:53:06","date_gmt":"2019-10-07T14:53:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.artificialis.eu\/?p=8295"},"modified":"2019-10-07T16:53:06","modified_gmt":"2019-10-07T14:53:06","slug":"artwork-of-the-month-october-2019","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artificialis.eu\/?p=8295","title":{"rendered":"Artwork of the month \/ October 2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Second Hand: Kyiv (Kiev), 2015<\/em><\/span><\/strong>
\nZhanna Kadyrova<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

2015
\nSoviet period tiles, wood
\nVariable dimensions<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The series \u201cSecond Hand\u201d by the Ukrainian artist Zhanna Kadyrova is a long-lasting project of several single interventions, which started in 2014 in Sao Paulo. After four more venues, the last one up to now, is the \u201cHotel All\u2019Angelo\u201d for the Venice Biennale 2019<\/a><\/span>. For \u201cSecond Hand\u201d, the artist recycles used tiles to create objects in the shape of clothes.<\/p>\n

For her intervention in Kyiv 2015, Zhanna Kadyrova had chosen the territory of the Darnitski Silk Factory, a location, which refers with its past and its present to textiles. During the Soviet era, the area hosted three factories to produce artificial silk, weave cloth and sew garments. In the 1970s, the Darnitski Silk Factory was the biggest textile production plant of the USSR. Additionally, there was a strong social infrastructure offered to the over six thousand working people. The leisure programme included amateur sport and recreation centres, libraries and even a greenhouse to encourage the collective. Referring to these facilities, the artist points on her website<\/a><\/span> to the relational aspect of the Soviet working space, particularly \u201cregarding the modern obsession of \u2018efficiency\u2019 and \u2018appropriateness of costs\u2019 \u201c. Herewith she indicates the change of work conditions for labourers. Nevertheless, nowadays enterprises of the service industry try to attract employees by amenities like nurseries and other non-monetary benefits. Often they create unconventional workspaces and times to increase productivity, which reminds a little bit the earlier engagements to connect work and private life.<\/p>\n

In absence of a new utilisation concept after the collapse of the Soviet Union, many buildings of the former silk factory deteriorated in the first time. Others were converted into storages. Since 2002, the former weaving manufactory is the shopping mall Darnok. Certainly, the shops offer an assortment of textiles. Moreover, there is the Art Zavod Platforma installed. It is Ukraine\u2019s largest creative cluster. There, exhibitions, educational events and even large-scale concerts and parties take place. Even though with a commercial orientation this new usage perhaps reminds a little bit the leisure infrastructures of the previous factory.<\/p>\n

For \u201cSecond Hand: Kyiv, 2015\u201d Zhanna Kadyrova worked with found wall decorating ceramic tiles, originating of the area of the former production plant. She was inspired by the patterns and ornaments, which are still preserved in some workshops. The \u201ccutting patterns\u201d for the \u201cgarments\u201d are diverse and include dresses, trousers, jackets and even a poncho. First exhibited in the space of the Art Zavod Platforma and hanged at the in part still existing tile walls, the objects merge or communicate with their background. Therefore, they refer to the past and their origin. Presented at clothes racks at other venues, they remind the destination of garments as merchandise. In consequence, it is a hint to the current use as shopping mall of the previous weaving manufactory.<\/p>\n

Zhanna Kadyrova\u2019s \u201cSecond Hand\u201d creations are more than art objects, which make a new use of old tiles. They recount the story of the origin of the material. In doing so, they also recall the history of the Soviet Union, its social orientation and working condition. Its political collapse was accompanied by the decline of its industry and the split-up into single nation states. The new states, like the Ukraine understandably try to wipe out the Soviet heritage, including buildings like the Darnitski Silk Factory or the transliteration of the capital\u2019s name into Latin letters. In exhibiting the oeuvres in the converted space of their origin and other places, the artist includes the present and carries the whole story to the rest of the world. Imagining the narration as text, the ancient tiles of the former textile producing plant become literally \u201ctext-tiles\u201d, clothes that tell their story by their material.<\/p>\nngg_shortcode_0_placeholder\n