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Exhibitions are a kind of culture of relationships, a model of communication and a possibility to find something new in this world. Without shows and holidays our life would be limited of positive emotions and bright impressions. Someone visits public activities because of interesting meetings, or filling up the inner baggage or just to get a new pair of shoes. So, why do we visit festivals, fairs and exhibitions? Is it just a fashion or does your work require from you to lead public life? Or maybe it is a part of your life, something that touches the strings of your soul? ”The Tavria Games” is the one of the most popular international music festivals in Ukraine. ”The Tavria Games” became a legend for 15 years.

150 thousands music fans come here every year from the different regions of Ukraine to see this wonderful festival of live music and excellent sound. Also there are a lot of contests, drawings, special actions and presentations. The distinctive feature of this show - the audience choose the artistes by themselves. During the year people from different parts of Ukraine vote via SMS for their favorite singers.


Every year the most beautiful ladies from the different cities of Ukraine take part in the Beauty contest “Ukrainian Queen”. The good tradition of it is that no woman is left without attention and special titles.


The young talented, but not famous, yet, music groups represent their creative works on the daylight scene. The idea and the goal of “The Tavria Games” is advancing the music culture and discovering new names. The young artists are being selected in each region of Ukraine through the direct audition. Every evening the favorite artists splash out their energy to the audience. The authors of the festival emphasize on the fact that the obligatory feature of this event is live music. As a rule, “The Tavria Games” takes place in spring time. You are welcome to visit this holiday of music and beauty.


Being in Kharkiv you can find a number of exhibition halls (as a rule, admission is free). Some of the DU team members had recently an opportunity to visit an unusual and impressive art exhibition of the famous painter
Nikas Safronov. The style of his painting can be hardly determined. There is cubism, icon art, symbolism or psychological portraits. Often the audience calls him the Russian Dali. It seems no one can stay indifferent after reviewing his pictures. Nikas doesn’t feel shy of stripping the nature; on the contrary he emphasizes this sign.

Woman’s nature was closely and subtly noticed: she -cat, she -bird, she -with a head of Tyson, but in any case she is magnificent. Nikas is categorical aesthete. Medieval style of writing, passed through the modern perception of reality, mixed in humor, gives breathtaking effect. Every picture makes you rely on the imagination and think over what He wanted to express…

One famous person said once a deep thought about Nikas Safronov: “It seems to me, that his soul was struck by the XX century reality. In a strange way it combines the absolutely opposite things: search of God and the wish to hide from Him, faith and unfaith, romanticism and rough look on the reality.”

When I was in Kyiv my friend suggested me to visit Pinchuk Art Centre, where the exhibition GENERATIONS.UsA - a new project of the young Ukrainian and American artists has been taking place in that time. GENERATIONS.UsA is the first exhibition where the works of young artists from Ukraine and the United States of America were displayed. The main goal of this activity was to provide a general review of contemporary art in both countries, focusing on the new and most interesting phenomena. The works were represented in different directions: paintings, wall pictures, graphics, photos, video, and installations. The exhibition was accompanied by music and sounds.

The purpose of such exhibitions is to give to the young authors an opportunity to compare themselves with others and find their own spot within their generation. Kadyrova’s pieces say that everything in the world is relative, hence potential beauty could be discovered anywhere. However, this beauty grows evermore volatile and unstable since the life span of certain things lasts only a few seconds. Having mixed sugar into coffee, we through away the stirrer, forgetting about it - this is why the artist attempts to prolong its posthumous existence. Heretofore mute object gaining the right to speak and to be heard.

The Danish artist considers his sculptures, installations first as experimental sites. The artist’s primary concern is creating a situation that stirs to activity the viewer’s perception. The Eliasson’s works mean a viewer to be an element of the installation. In Inverted Shadow Tower, the installation takes the form of 5,5 meter tall tower with light projected through its aluminum structure, inviting the viewer to step inside. Once inside he is bathed in the light of 280 diamond-shaped lamps; their intensity changes progressively, calculated according to the time necessary for the retina to adjust to the variations.

The locus of beauty sought by Aleksandr Semenov becomes the lost place, swept by catastrophe from the surface of the earth. The “enchanted” place is the sandy beach in Abkhazia, the health resort where being a child the artist vacationed with his parents. Consciousness “combines” childhood recollection - evening films, strolls past the murmur of breaking waves - with episodes of the Georgian-Abkhaz conflict, when the beach was mined and the sanatorium served as a hospital. Later the mines were removed from the sand, but the thoughts still pursue that a few mines await him in the place of bliss…
The installation “Beach” is imbued with this senseless fear of insecurity, which is much more intense then the fear of outright danger.

The artist strives for neutralizing the pressure and overcoming the oppressive force of their weight. The pathos of setting free from body emerges here, getting rid of this cumbersome physical casing that burdens that which it contains. Even more immaterial and delicate are the elephants swimming in the ocean - they remind us of dreams in which we soar.

In April, 26-28 2007 in Kharkiv took place the fourth international festival-fair “The book world 2007”. The slogan of the festival this year was “A new step toward the glory”.

The visitors had an opportunity to meet with famous writers, poets and journalists from Poland, Russia and Ukraine. Besides this, such festival is a unique chance to look for a favorite literature or to buy the necessary books for the reasonable price. During these 3 days lots of publishing houses from Ukraine, Russia and Poland were offering their products. “The book world 2007” has been taking place in the Opera house lobby and open-air in Shevchenko Park.

With the festival framework many other interesting public activities were held: The book graphic arts exposition; The rarity editions exhibition presented by one of the biggest state library Korolenko: A presentation devoted to the 50th Kharkiv planetarium jubilee; The Ukrainian ecological conference “The ecology of modern life”, etc.

It was a very short glimpse on the Ukrainian cultural events. But it is very easy to know more - come and see on your own!

Article written by Marina Pristinskaya

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