Avant-Garde Story of Ukraine as a breathtaking journey through the thousand-year development of Ukrainian statehood

To celebrate Ukrainian Statehood Day, the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine joined forces with the State Agency of Ukraine for Arts and Art Education, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, and Havas Engage to launch the campaign dubbed the Avant-Garde Story of Ukraine.

The Avant-Garde Story of Ukraine is a display of continuous evolutionary development, as Ukrainians have always been moving forward, pushing Europe’s and the entire world’s social, cultural, and scientific horizons. They have been innovating, standing for democracy and the right to self-determination, and remaining at the forefront of artistic context. 

Therefore, avant-garde as an artistic style was picked for the project’s artistic presentation. After all, the Ukrainian artist and sculptor Oleksandr Arkhypenko was among the founders of Cubism in sculpture, and Ukrainian native Kazymyr Malevich founded the world-renown Suprematism art style. 

Avant-Garde History of Ukraine is a fascinating narrative built from artistic images and facts that reflect Ukraine’s incredible diversity through the ages. 

As a part of the project, we have set up the avantgardestory.ua Instagram page to showcase curious facts of the millennium-long history of Ukraine through the lens of its people’s distinctive traits, e.g., creativity, adventurousness, avantgardism, democratism, erudition, go-aheadedness, melodicness, audacity, and perseverance. 

The project will run for two months. Apart from the Instagram page, the avant-garde story of Ukraine will be told through interactive installations in the squares of Europe’s largest cities. 

‘After Ukraine became a recognized candidate for membership of the European Union, we felt it was essential that we are regarded as not only an independent state but also as a nation with a thousand years of history, a huge legacy and limitless potential, as well as an appropriate role in the genesis of Europe. We wanted to tell the dwellers of European cities much more than they know. This artistic advocacy of Ukraine as a self-sufficient partner and a powerful player in all aspects of European life. With this project, we bolster Ukraine’s positions as a valuable member of the European Union’, Minister of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine Oleksandr Tkachenko said. 

‘We felt it was important not to just spread the word about Ukraine but also to find an appropriate form for it, which would be contemporary, characteristically Ukrainian, and easy for the European audience to digest. While at it, we noticed the Ukrainians were pioneers and inventors—avantgardists—throughout the entire process of history. This is why we picked avantgardism, which became a cornerstone for Europe’s contemporary visual culture back in the day, as a vehicle for visual narrative. It is vivid, full of character, and unique like Ukraine itself ’, Havas Engage’s creative team emphasized.

Project commissioned by the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the State Agency for Art and Artistic Education of Ukraine.

Project idea by Havas Engage.

Project partners: Nova Poshta Global (Logistical Partner), Zdravo LLC, MTI Group, Plant on production of drinking water and baby food "Econia".