Video documentation of the Franklin Furnace LOFT event War in Ukraine & Art presented on July 20, 2022 at 6:00PM – 7:00PM ET on Zoom.
*Note: In reference to Harley Spiller’s project, the hat was embroidered by the artist Jillian McDonald as part of her fall 2002 project “Borrowed Clothes <Seams>”. She invited the public to meet with her at a lower Manhattan storefront and lend an article of clothing, after which she sewed “into the seams and inverted places…a personal protection message…based on the participant’s individual fears.”
Art and War are mutually exclusive concepts. They correspond to creation and destruction, while the concept of destruction is not alien to modern art. War deteriorates life, while becoming part of it. War stifles creativity, eliminates lightheartedness, and suppresses playfulness in Art. The subject of this presentation is Art during wartime, the transformation of artists and the changes in the perception of Art.
Born and raised in Kharkiv, Ukraine, FF alumn, Irina Danilova will examine her experience and will present a selection of international artworks collected from social media, including examples of the anonymous anti-war art in Russia, the War Journal series by Ukrainian/Bulgarian artist Alla Georgieva, along with introduction of young prominent Ukrainian installation and performance women artists, Olga Fedorova, Daria Koltsova, Maria Kulikovska, Natalia Lysova, Maria Proshkovska and their war related works.
Most of the anti-war artists in this presentation are women, given that the war is a predominantly male-run conflict. The majority of armies are male, the attributes of war, such as cannons and rockets, have somewhat phallic shapes, and the war started with the twisted ambition of an aggressive, psychologically challenged dictator. Anti war Art stands behind the defenders, the heroic Ukrainian men. Anti-war Art is part of the international effort to put together resources to repel the invasion and stop the War.
Bio
Irina Danilova is an experimental multimedia visual and performance artist of life long and serial projects, curator, founder of 59 Seconds Video Festival, BRURAL (Brooklyn + Ural) series, and Executive Director of Project 59, Inc. Born and raised in Kharkov, Ukraine, she lived in Moscow, now lives and works in New York. Irina Danilova has an MFA from the School of Visual Arts. She is an Adjunct Associate Professor of art in Kingsborough College of CUNY. In 1995 Irina started Project 59 using the flipped number of the year as a key for artistic exploration. Originally conceived as a one-year project, it had generated an ongoing sequence of artworks. Within Project 59 Irina examines the mechanism of perception and outermost limits of creative approaches.
Danilova’s installations and artworks were shown in Islip Art Museum (Islip, NY), Weisman Museum and TMORA (Minneapolis), Zimmerli Museum (NJ), Smithsonian Museum, Spaces (Cleveland, Ohio), The Telephone Factory (Atlanta, Georgia), and Chelsea museum (NYC, NY). Outside of the U.S. she has also performed and/or exhibited in Germany, Bulgaria, Iceland, Russia, UK, Chile, Austria, Australia, Italy and Ukraine. As a performance artist she appeared in Cleveland, Santiago and Melbourne International Performance Festivals, took part in the First Ural biennial (Yekaterinburg, Russia), Murgia biennial (Italy) and in Franklin Furnace program The Future of the Present.
Irina Danilova won an international public art competition in Halle, Germany and was recognized by Bronx Consul for the Arts as BRIO Awardees. She completed sponsored by Arts Link project in Russia and was a Longwood Cyber Studio Resident. Her cyber works were presented at Thundergulch, Smack Melon Gallery (NYC) and in Prixars Electronica (Vienna).
Irina Danilova’s videos have been screened around the world, and she has curated several international projects including Bulgaria-NY, Multiples, E-Europe, 59 Seconds Video Festival, Islands Universe and BRURAL series.
This project is made possible with funds from the NYSCA Electronic Media/Film in Partnership with Wave Farm: Media Arts Assistance Fund, with the support of Governor Kathy Hochul and the New York State Legislature, and the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council.
