Strange Time

“On March 22, 2020, I was cleaning up my archive and met with the work “Pink Fox ”, which I created in 2018. At some point, I opened the file and started working with it. The color of the digital paradise suddenly changed, the image of the main character took on a different form, and most of the characters entirely left the space. An alarm sounded. This is how the work “The Hunter” appeared and the first thought about a future project as well. I never planned to be a curator, but during the quarantine period due to the fact that cultural life is frozen, being a digital artist, I decided to organize an international online exhibition and invited famous artists from around the world to participate in it. My task was to show what creative energy is aimed at today and how artists of different generations and views see and feel this time. And to my joy, negotiating with each of the participants, I got the impression that they were waiting for this project, they all worked and were focused on the same topic," says Stepan Ryabchenko.[3]

The focus of the Strange Time exhibition was not only artworks but also the format for the representation of artists and their works on the basis of the website, Which itself is a sustainable work.[3] The name of the exhibition “Strange Time” reflected the main goal of the project: the study of time and the ambiguity of what is happening in the modern world through visual language, positions, and manifestos.[4] The exposition from a simple space of representation turned into a situation of dialogue and interaction between artists, creating certain connections, positions, and relationships.[5] The project was created as a developing organism, which is constantly updated with new authors and works, expanding its digital boundaries until the myth of COVID-19 goes into oblivion.[6] After it happens it is planned to publish the catalogue and organize a large-scale exhibition in the National Center "Ukrainian House"[7] in Kyiv and other institutions of the countries participating in the project.

The project includes a section "Exhibition", in which the works and quotes of artists move around the monitor screen like cells under a microscope, forming a single "cultural network".[8] At the time of receipt of new works, the field automatically expands, taking in new artists. The project also has a "Participants" section, which contains a structured archive of all authors with a brief description of their creative activities, their works, and thoughts about the relative time. The section “3 questions – 3 answers” contains interviews with project participants. All answers are posted on a common page, giving the viewer the opportunity to study various points of view and add up a general impression of the world order through the prism of an artistic look.[9]

The list is given in accordance with the official website data from the Team section.[10]

• Stepan Ryabchenko, author of the idea, curator
• Sergey Ryabchenko, creator of the website, musical accompaniment and video presentation of the project[11]
• Christian Kortegaard Madsen, art consultant
• Victoria Kim, lead manager
• Vera Ryabchenko, project coordinator, translator
• Ramsey Brown, editor

Currently, 50 artists are participating in the Strange Time project. The exhibition combined the various views and creative approaches of artists from around the world.[12]

The list is given in accordance with the official website data from the Participants section.[13]

Alejandro Leonhardt, Alex Yudzon, Alexander Roitburd, Aljoscha, Anders Krisar, Andriy Sagaidakovsky, Birgit Bjerre, David Baskin, David Czupryn, Einar Falur Ingolfsson, Erik Sommer, Felix Schramm, Fernando Moletta, Gene Kiegel, Giulio Malinverni, Guillermo Mora, Hannah Hallermann, Jakub Hubalek, Janessa Clark, Jesu Moratiel, Jofroi Amaral, Kenny Scharf, lom-of-LaMa, Lucien Dulfan, Lynda Draper, Marina Skugareva, Mykola Matsenko, Nicolas Vionnet, Nik Ramage, Nikita Storozhkov, Noriko Okaku, Oleg Tistol, Omri Harmelin, Paul Cooley, Paulo Arraiano, Pavlo Kerestey, Pedro Matos, Richie Culver, Robert Lazzarini, Roxanne Jackson, Samuel Jablon, Sergei Sviatchenko, Stepan Ryabchenko, Tom McFarland, Valentin Abad, Vasiliy Ryabchenko, Vasiliy Tsagolov, Victor Sydorenko, Victoria Keddie, Yuko Soi.

• Official website