This year a large-scale exhibition of contemporary Ukrainian art will take place in Paris at the Centre Pompidou. More than 130 works of Ukrainian artists were donated to the French Centre's collection by the private collectors.

A significant contribution to the inclusion of works in the collection of the Centre Pompidou was made by the Ukrainian Club of Contemporary Art Collectors and the Grynyov Art Collection, Museum of the Kharkov School of Photography (MOKSOP), Tatiana and Evgeniy Pavlov. Negotiations lasted for two years. The expert commission of the Center came to Ukraine to see the works. Collectors and cultural figures Tetyana and Yevheniy Pavlov, Zenko Avtanaziv, Leonid Komsky, Semen Kantor, Yuriy Kohutyak, Andriy Adamovsky, Vadym Morokhovsky, Yevheniy Demenok, Tetyana Osadcha, Volodymyr Shpilfogel also joined the action.

Today, the Georges Pompidou Centre in Paris is one of the most authoritative international institutions that studies and promotes contemporary art practices. Therefore, according to the organizers in a situation where contemporary Ukrainian art exists in conditions of rather unsystematic state support, such recognition by international experts will not only become a positive precedent for Ukrainian cultural diplomacy, but also contribute to the further formation of a balanced domestic cultural policy. After all, a significant part of the works of contemporary Ukrainian artists and post-Soviet photography still remains uncovered, outside of large exhibition, museum and research projects.

One of the main museums of contemporary art in the world, the Georges Pompidou Centre creates a collection of Ukrainian. It is difficult to overestimate this fact for the popularization of Ukrainian art and the formation of an international image of Ukraine. We are certainly glad to be involved in the process and are proud that Odessa authors are included in the collection.

Vadim Morokhovsky

The main part of the collection consists of photos. The Pompidou Centre will receive more than 130 photos created by representatives of the Kharkov School of Photography in the 1970s and 2010s: works by Viktor and Sergey Kochetovs, Oleg Malevaniy, Evgeny Pavlov, Roman Pyatkovka, Yuri Rupin, Sergey Solonsky, Alexander Suprun and the Shilo group (Vladislav Krasnoshchek, Sergei Lebedinsky, Vadim Trikoz), as well as Kherson artist Stanislav Volyazlovsky.

A unique phenomenon, which fundamentally influenced the development of Ukrainian, Soviet and post-Soviet photography, until recently remained outside of large exhibition, museum and research projects. Over the past few years, interest in the phenomenon of the Kharkiv School of Photography has noticeably increased, which indicates its powerful potential in the presentation of Ukrainian culture on the world art scene.

Museum of the Kharkov School of Photography

MOKSOP hopes that cooperation with the Pompidou Centre will contribute more carefull study of the archive of Ukrainian photography.

Also part of the collection in Paris will be works by Odessa artists. Odessa collectors Vadym Morokhovsky, Volodymyr and Tetyana Osadcha, Yevhen Demenok donated iconic works by Oleg Sokolov, Sergey Anufriev, Alexander Roytburd, Vladimir Naumts, Leonid Voitsekhov, Viktor Ratushny and Alexander Shevchuk will be exhibited at the Pompidou Center and will become part of its fund.

The donated works will be presented at a large-scale exhibition of contemporary Ukrainian art at the Pompidou Center, which is scheduled for 2021.