“Natsprom” is an artistic collective and ideological program of Ukrainian artists Mykola Matsenko and Oleg Tistol. Their professional collaboration began after the exhibition “Kyiv-Mohyla Academy,” which took place in the Old Educational Building of the Kyiv-Mohyla Academy in 1992. The ideological program of “Natsprom” was focused on the development of historical and cultural stereotypes. This search proceeded in several directions: currency as the main cultural stereotype and work of art; the museum as a place of total preservation of stereotypes; architecture as stereotypes embodied in public spaces. The artists analyze historical and cultural heritage, folk art, politics, culture, and their own works, developing the “ideal” currency, museum designs, and architecture. The ideological framework of Natsprom is partially described in their program texts, including “The Battle of Poltava,” “National Culture,” “Museum of Architecture.”
Acquainted since their student days of joint study at the Republican Art School (now the Taras Shevchenko State Art Secondary School), as well as at the Lviv State Institute of Decorative and Applied Arts (now the Lviv National Academy of Arts), Matsenko and Tistol together took commissions at the Art-Production Bureau in the 1980s. At the same time, Oleg Tistol created his own works that did not conform to the official paradigm of socialist realist art. Together with Kostyantyn Reunov, he proclaimed the program “The Volitional Edge of National Post-Eclecticism,” aimed at comprehending national stereotypes. In the late 1980s – early 1990s, Tistol was one of the most successful young artists in Ukraine. His works were exhibited in Russia, Poland, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Finland, and other countries.
In 1992, Tistol returned to Kyiv, and his artistic paths again crossed with Matsenko. In May 1992, the artists created a joint work for the exhibition “Kosyi Kaponir,” exploring the space around the “Kyiv Fortress” museum. At their second joint exhibition “Kyiv-Mohyla Academy,” the artists again engaged in reflection on the exhibition platform. Their next project, developed for an exhibition within Kyiv Art Meetup, was created in collaboration with the young artist Oleksandr Kharchenko, whom Oleg Tistol knew from the times of the squat[mfn] The Squat on Furmannyi Lane in Moscow was an artistic squat that existed from 1987 to 1991. Over the years, among the squat residents were: Kostyantyn Zvezdochetov; Larisa Rezun-Zvezdochetova; Oleg Tistol; Maryna Skugaryova; Kostyantyn (Vinni) Reunov; the art group “Mushrooms”; Yuriy Albert; Oleksandr Kharchenko and others.[/mfn] on Furmannyi Lane in Moscow, and with the artist and curator Anatoliy Stepanenko.
Despite the fact that the collaboration between Tistol and Matsenko lasted many years, each of them continued to work on their solo projects, often referring to common themes or motifs, quoting fragments from their joint works. Their early works were signed as Tistol and Matsenko. The name “Natsprom” appeared in the second half of the 1990s as an abbreviation of the term “National Industry.” The choice of the name brought to the forefront the large-scale (industrial) approach of the artists to the development, mass production, and dissemination of new myths. This “all-encompassing” analytical approach to myths takes shape under the influence of museums, which essentially legitimize myths in the nationwide narrative.
The collective works of Natsprom largely repeat and continue to develop the programmatic choice of The Volitional Edge of National Post-Eclecticism regarding the comprehension of national history and cultural heritage, and the creation of a reality in which “traditional national traits, such as love of beauty, a constant look into the depths of history, and the desire for self-assertion, give rise to new phantoms of the ‘unpredictable past,’ which, as a constant phantom, exists in culture, becoming a source of ever new illusions.”[mfn]Chepelyk, Oksana. “Absurd as a Means of Dissecting Reality.” Absurd and Around. Moscow: 2004. p. 171.[/mfn]
Early works of “Natsprom” included a number of large-scale installations that quite often related to a specific place/location. Many important works, including “September 17,” “Suvorov Museum,” “Pilsudski,” and others, were created on A4 paper modules combined into compositions of 160 × 320 cm, 300 × 600 cm, and 248 × 576 cm respectively, exhibited under glass. The choice of fragile materials was interpreted by Oleksandr Solovyov as a metaphor signifying the loss of the cultural archive. In his opinion, seams, gaps, and intervals played an important role, and the shiny glass blurred the image, thus smoothing the overall perception of the composition.[mfn]Solovyov, Oleksandr. Turbulent Locks. Kyiv: Intertekhnologiya, 2006. Link: http://www.mari.kiev.ua/PDF/solovev.pdf[/mfn].
The technology developed by Matsenko and Tistol perfectly illustrates the period when Ukrainian art began to move away from canvases: “The technology itself is profaned, as if becoming cheaper, it moves away from ‘permanent’ materials, painting dematerializes, capturing increasingly larger exhibition spaces […] Essentially, we are dealing with fleeting ‘imaginary museums,’ fragile models of mystifications.”[mfn]Solovyov, Oleksandr. Turbulent Locks. Kyiv: Intertekhnologiya, 2006. Link: http://www.mari.kiev.ua/PDF/solovev.pdf[/mfn].
Research on currency as a cultural symbol documenting important historical moments is an important theme for Natsprom. It found expression in a series of works under the general title “Ukrainian Money” (or “Project Ukrainian Money”). Starting as a series of graphic works by Tistol, it soon culminated in installations by Tistol and Matsenko in the 1980s. Mykyta Kadan aptly noted: “Tistol and Matsenko demonstrated the mechanisms of the ‘invention of tradition’ – practically following Hobsbawm. Their works took the form of huge panels, large-scale, altar-like installations that emphasize their theatrical nature, clearly reflecting the excesses of accelerated state-building.”[mfn]Mykyta Kadan. [Kadan, Mykyta] “Art in the Mirror of Nationalism.” KORYDOR. – July 2010. Link: http://old.korydor.in.ua/component/content/article/8-blogs/91-Iskusstvo-v-zerkale-natsionalizma (accessed 27.04.2017)[/mfn].
As noted by Nikita Kadan, the installations of Matsenko and Tistol often resemble altars, connecting them to the Christian tradition and visually resembling an iconostasis, and thematically the icons of the Baroque era (at that time secular political leaders, including Pilsudski, Suvorov, Roksolana, Mazepa, and others were often counted among the saints). “The folk icon with remnants of Baroque is my painting of the 1980s-90s. That is, my works were based on such iconographic material (illustration of a large icon). I simply continued these Baroque ornamental elements, hands – I did not take these elements but created my own, continuing them, and I think I filled my small niche in art.“[mfn]Tistol, Oleg. “So That It Would Be Beautiful!” UKRAINIAN NAIVE XX CENTURY. Link: http://ukrainian-naive.com/publication/tistol_essay (accessed 11.02.2017) [/mfn].
In the mid-1990s, the analytical direction of “Natsprom” regarding the study of stereotypes in art was expanded to include an architectural direction and research on Ukrainian traditions and the embodiment of myths in urban planning and the organization of the urban environment. Tistol and Matsenko developed the idea of an architectural museum that would demonstrate the heritage of Ukrainian culture from Prince Volodymyr II Monomakh to the former athlete and mayor of Kyiv Volodymyr Klychko, from rural to industrial urban culture. The museum’s materials included Soviet pediments in Baryshivka[mfn] Baryshivka is a village in Kyiv region, founded in 985. First mentioned in 1125. [/mfn], the facade of the National Art Museum of Ukraine, whose history dates back to the early 20th century, the “red” building of Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv, and others. Their original landscapes were distorted and became phantoms of history unfolding here and now.
The creative careers of the artists remain closely intertwined to this day. Warm friendship lends their works trust and mutual respect. The artists shared one studio for a long time but now use different spaces.
As noted in her article by Olena Martyniuk, “Natsprom functioned as a mechanism for re-evaluating various phenomena of Ukrainian culture in the context of the collapse of the Soviet empire and the spread of its symbolic remnants as images embedded in the collective consciousness.”[mfn] Martyniuk, Olena. “Oleg Tistol. Charisma plus Natsprom. ARTUkraine. – 2009, May-June. – pp.29-31. [/mfn]. Their “industrial” approach to analyzing mythological, historical, and cultural stereotypes formed the recognizable visual language of “Natsprom,” which combines clichés and stencils of Soviet state commissions with elements of Baroque.
Bibliography
- The Squat on Furmannyi Lane in Moscow was an artistic squat that existed from 1987 to 1991. Over the years, among the squat residents were: Kostyantyn Zvezdochetov; Larisa Rezun-Zvezdochetova; Oleg Tistol; Maryna Skugaryova; Kostyantyn (Vinni) Reunov; the art group “Mushrooms”; Yuriy Albert; Oleksandr Kharchenko and others.
- Chepelyk, Oksana. “Absurd as a Means of Dissecting Reality.” Absurd and Around. Moscow: 2004. p. 171.
- Solovyov, Oleksandr. Turbulent Locks. Kyiv: Intertekhnologiya, 2006. Link: http://www.mari.kiev.ua/PDF/solovev.pdf
- Same link
- Mykyta Kadan. [Kadan, Mykyta] “Art in the Mirror of Nationalism.” KORYDOR. – July 2010. Link:http://old.korydor.in.ua/component/content/article/8-blogs/91-Iskusstvo-v-zerkale-natsionalizma (accessed 27.04.2017)
- Tistol, Oleg. “So That It Would Be Beautiful!” UKRAINIAN NAIVE XX CENTURY. Link: http://ukrainian-naive.com/publication/tistol_essay (accessed 11.02.2017)
- Baryshivka — a village in Kyiv region, founded in 985. First mentioned in 1125.
- Martyniuk, Olena. “Oleg Tistol. Charisma plus Natsprom. ARTUkraine. – 2009, May-June. – pp.29-31.
Comment type: Summary
Author: Kateryna Yakovlenko
