Imagine, virtual technology and advanced science looking at human history, myth, our relationships to the physical world. Online Solo Show "Virtual Landscapes" by the Odessa artist Stepan Ryabchenko. Duration till 31.01.2021

Al-Tiba9 gallery takes a new approach to contemporary art in a digital space. Based on the ideology of the Al-Tiba9 Platform, the Al-Tiba9 gallery emphasizes emerging international artists. The gallery aims to highlight the vision of the future executed by outstanding artists through visual arts, digital and experimental art, virtual art, music and architecture.

Founded by Mohamed Benhadj, curator and art advisor with decade long experience in working with established artists, galleries, museums, and collectors, AL-Tiba9 gallery runs several programmes to promote international artists and invites art professionals through online exhibitions, collector publications, participation in art fairs, and digital events via social media, and much more.

Mohamed Benhadj, one of the influential art curators in Algeria, is the icon of performance art known for his audacious and avant-garde style. Being the booster of the International Cultural Exchange in contemporary art in Algeria, he strengthened the possibilities of change and growth for Algerian and international artists by exchanging and promoting art on a broader level. His goal is to create a new pole of contemporary art in North Africa, offering the world a unique experience of creativity, possibility, and growth like no other around the globe.

Through this “Virtual Landscapes” exhibition of Stepan Ryabchenko, the curator has been struck wondering if the future might have its lens focused toward this moment. Imagine, virtual technology and advanced science looking at human history, myth, our relationships to the physical world. And we are looking right back at it. How we relate to this question of time and space, to life and resonance, to our own seeds of empathy and compassion, to the forces of life and light which we all imbue, may be the most compelling reminder that we are all virtual expressions, contrasts of light, of mass, density and form.

Mohamed Benhadj

Born 1987 in Odessa, Stepan Ryabchenko is a leading Ukrainian media artist and Art Laboratory chief curator. His work spans conceptual architecture, sculpture, and light installations. The focus of his attention is the boundary between the real and virtual world and the new nature of art. In his artwork, the artist creates his digital universe with its heroes and mythology. Well-known for his monumental prints and video-art installations of non-existent characters, including Computer viruses, Electronic winds, Virtual flowers, etc.

In his art practice, Stepan Ryabchenko always tries various forms of art and technology, giving priority, especially to innovative technology. With the rapid development of technology in recent decades, art and science are more closely linked than ever before. The cutting edge integration of the two has brought forth a myriad of new phenomena that Stepan Ryabchenko believes merit further research and analysis.

Science and Art are both interpretations of nature, our nature, our environments, and relationships with each of these. As we consider any past, we must consider the present and acknowledge it as a past for any future. So, as we are present in the future of our own past, we are also living in the history of our own future.

Mohamed Benhadj

In virtual space, “nature” can be redefined. Elements can be reconstructed, repositioned, reinterpreted, providing endless possibilities, making the virtual very real. The same principale was applied in the renaissance period with the liberation of the body in the western world, which has become the basis for today’s contemporary society.

Mohamed Benhadj

Stepan Ryabchenko’s works have been widely exhibited internationally, including the Ludwig Museum exhibition in Budapest, Saatchi Gallery in London, Krolikarnia in Warsaw, Museum of Contemporary Art in Zagreb and Danubiana Meulensteen Art Museum in Bratislava, Manege and Gostiny Dvor in Moscow, etc. His works have also been exhibited in many places in Ukraine, including PinchukArtCentre, Mystetskyi Arsenal, National Art Museum, M17 Contemporary Art Center, Museum of Odessa Modern Art, Modern Art Research Institute, etc.