Photo: Hanna Neander
hinsehen. побачити. double take
Kateryna Lysovenko, Masha Pryven
12 March– 14 May 2023
“double take” brings together the work of Ukrainian artists Kateryna Lysovenko (*1989 Kyiv) and Masha Pryven (*1988 Luhansk), both of whom address russia’s ongoing war of aggression against their homeland through different media and approaches. Kateryna Lysovenko’s paintings situate depictions of individual and collective feeling within a communal context of European mythology and fable. Photographer Masha Pryven assembles individual testimonies to form a pictorial atlas of repeated experiences of war, displacement and exile.
At Kunstverein Grafschaft Bentheim, Kateryna Lysovenko presents three large-format acrylic paintings and eight in watercolor on paper. For the artist, painting is like a second voice in which to express trauma through a combination of fantastic characters and dream-like scenarios. A glimpse of the horrors of war is seen through the eyes of a woman's portrait, a toe balances on a skull, a naked woman holds a severed half of a fish in her arms. Lysovenko's pictorial worlds are composed of chimeras and intensities, images that evoke language and sensation but which offer only an ambivalent reading. Her protagonists find themselves in hostile or foreboding situations, yet their direct gaze and apparent self-confidence render her figures neither outright victims nor distant heroines, conveying both openness and vulnerability. In her symbolic scenes and charged moods, the artist combines historical and anti-patriarchal consciousness with a worldview centered on practices of care.
Masha Pryven's work "See what I see" (2022 – ongoing) is a kind of photographic archive created by a collaborative network consisting of the artist and about 30 other individuals. Since the invasion of Ukraine on 24 February 2022, Ukrainians and supporters both inside and outside of the country have sprung up in spontaneous global networks to help civilians and provide humanitarian and military aid. Communicating primarily via social media, Pryven developed contacts within these networks and began to build a shared archive of smartphone photos taken by individuals on the ground. Becoming co-archivists, the artist was sent photos, notes and recollections of their shared experiences of war. Pryven presents the photographs together with selected text and messages, arranged chronologically and according to thematic, narrative and aesthetic aspects. From the assemblage of individual testimonies emerges a special kind of war photography, which at the same time stands in for modern modes of communication and connection.
Since at least the end of the Second World War, the representation of war in visual art has repeatedly been questioned. How far can art go in the face of human suffering – what are its ethical and aesthetic limits? In "double take," Masha Pryven's directly mediated approach meets the fantastical irreality of Kateryna Lysovenko's paintings. Both positions in this exhibition convey the radical expression of people who have experienced war and acted in collective resistance.
An additional wall display follows the conclusion of “double take” and depicts the recent history of the Kunstverein Grafschaft Bentheim and of the town of Neuenhaus. At the same time, it reflects upon the cyclical nature of world history. Behind this wall of the Kunstverein’s building is the last remaining part of a wall collage by the Syrian artist Khaled Al Saai, which was made in 2016 and focuses on the effects of the Syrian civil war. For many in Europe, the successive waves of refugees fleeing the war in Ukraine recall this earlier moment of those escaping violence in Syria. Russia's brutal contributions to the war in Syria can seem like an exercise for its later terrors directed against civilians in Ukraine – but which did not engender similar sanctions from the West. A now-common feature of modern warfare is the interconnectedness of its participants through the use of smartphones and social media, as well as greater media orchestration and global visibility, if only until the next human tragedy occurs. In turn, the recent earthquake in parts of Turkey and Syria has brought the never-ending war in Syria back into the news cycle, at least briefly.
Exhibition public program:
Saturday 11 March 2023, 5pm
Artist talk with Masha Pryven and Muriel Meyer (artistic director, Kunstverein Grafschaft Betheim). Followed by the opening of the exhibition.
Friday 31 March – Sunday 2 April 2023, 10am – 4pm
Bilingual Easter holiday workshop for children from Ukraine and Germany aged 10-12. A photography workshop based on the work of American educator Wendy Ewald. Together with Masha Pryven, the participating children will photograph things that are important to them. In the process, they will learn to consider their surroundings, to describe and express their feelings and responses to their individual situation.
Saturday 1 April 1 2023, 7.30pm
Dialogical conversation about art and culture after World War II: "To write a poem after Auschwitz is barbaric," this often-misunderstood quote by Theodor W. Adorno serves as a starting point to talk less about concrete art (works) and more extensively about a culture and its preconditions that make "Auschwitz and the like" possible. Introduced and moderated by the philosopher Tammo Jansen (co-initiator of the philosophical "root table" at Kunsthalle Lingen).
Sunday 2 April 2023, 4pm
Presentation of the photographic works from the children's workshop. Closing reception for family, friends and those interested.
Saturday 22 April 2023, 4pm
"Art for all": Johanna Balderhaar (art teacher at the Lise Meitner Gymnasium and chairwoman of the Kunstverein Grafschaft Bentheim) will give an introduction to the exhibition "double take". This format is intended for anyone who would like to learn about the exhibition in an accessible format and perhaps has not had much
contact with art before.
Sunday 23 April 2023, 4pm
"Kunst up Platt": Johanna Balderhaar (art teacher at the Lise Meitner Gymnasium and chairwoman of the Kunstverein Grafschaft Bentheim) will give an introduction to the exhibition "double take" in Plattdeutsch. This format is intended for anyone who would like to learn about the exhibition and is familiar with the language.
Sunday, 14 May 2023, 3pm
Talk in English and German with Anna Filippova (art critic, curator, cultural scientist with a focus on trauma) and Masha Pryven (artist), moderated by Muriel Meyer (artistic director).
This exhibition is supported by the Niedersächsische Ministerium für Wissenschaft und Kultur, and the Stadt- und Samtgemeinde Neuenhaus.
Kateryna Lysovenko, Masha Pryven
12 March– 14 May 2023
“double take” brings together the work of Ukrainian artists Kateryna Lysovenko (*1989 Kyiv) and Masha Pryven (*1988 Luhansk), both of whom address russia’s ongoing war of aggression against their homeland through different media and approaches. Kateryna Lysovenko’s paintings situate depictions of individual and collective feeling within a communal context of European mythology and fable. Photographer Masha Pryven assembles individual testimonies to form a pictorial atlas of repeated experiences of war, displacement and exile.
At Kunstverein Grafschaft Bentheim, Kateryna Lysovenko presents three large-format acrylic paintings and eight in watercolor on paper. For the artist, painting is like a second voice in which to express trauma through a combination of fantastic characters and dream-like scenarios. A glimpse of the horrors of war is seen through the eyes of a woman's portrait, a toe balances on a skull, a naked woman holds a severed half of a fish in her arms. Lysovenko's pictorial worlds are composed of chimeras and intensities, images that evoke language and sensation but which offer only an ambivalent reading. Her protagonists find themselves in hostile or foreboding situations, yet their direct gaze and apparent self-confidence render her figures neither outright victims nor distant heroines, conveying both openness and vulnerability. In her symbolic scenes and charged moods, the artist combines historical and anti-patriarchal consciousness with a worldview centered on practices of care.
Masha Pryven's work "See what I see" (2022 – ongoing) is a kind of photographic archive created by a collaborative network consisting of the artist and about 30 other individuals. Since the invasion of Ukraine on 24 February 2022, Ukrainians and supporters both inside and outside of the country have sprung up in spontaneous global networks to help civilians and provide humanitarian and military aid. Communicating primarily via social media, Pryven developed contacts within these networks and began to build a shared archive of smartphone photos taken by individuals on the ground. Becoming co-archivists, the artist was sent photos, notes and recollections of their shared experiences of war. Pryven presents the photographs together with selected text and messages, arranged chronologically and according to thematic, narrative and aesthetic aspects. From the assemblage of individual testimonies emerges a special kind of war photography, which at the same time stands in for modern modes of communication and connection.
Since at least the end of the Second World War, the representation of war in visual art has repeatedly been questioned. How far can art go in the face of human suffering – what are its ethical and aesthetic limits? In "double take," Masha Pryven's directly mediated approach meets the fantastical irreality of Kateryna Lysovenko's paintings. Both positions in this exhibition convey the radical expression of people who have experienced war and acted in collective resistance.
An additional wall display follows the conclusion of “double take” and depicts the recent history of the Kunstverein Grafschaft Bentheim and of the town of Neuenhaus. At the same time, it reflects upon the cyclical nature of world history. Behind this wall of the Kunstverein’s building is the last remaining part of a wall collage by the Syrian artist Khaled Al Saai, which was made in 2016 and focuses on the effects of the Syrian civil war. For many in Europe, the successive waves of refugees fleeing the war in Ukraine recall this earlier moment of those escaping violence in Syria. Russia's brutal contributions to the war in Syria can seem like an exercise for its later terrors directed against civilians in Ukraine – but which did not engender similar sanctions from the West. A now-common feature of modern warfare is the interconnectedness of its participants through the use of smartphones and social media, as well as greater media orchestration and global visibility, if only until the next human tragedy occurs. In turn, the recent earthquake in parts of Turkey and Syria has brought the never-ending war in Syria back into the news cycle, at least briefly.
Exhibition public program:
Saturday 11 March 2023, 5pm
Artist talk with Masha Pryven and Muriel Meyer (artistic director, Kunstverein Grafschaft Betheim). Followed by the opening of the exhibition.
Friday 31 March – Sunday 2 April 2023, 10am – 4pm
Bilingual Easter holiday workshop for children from Ukraine and Germany aged 10-12. A photography workshop based on the work of American educator Wendy Ewald. Together with Masha Pryven, the participating children will photograph things that are important to them. In the process, they will learn to consider their surroundings, to describe and express their feelings and responses to their individual situation.
Saturday 1 April 1 2023, 7.30pm
Dialogical conversation about art and culture after World War II: "To write a poem after Auschwitz is barbaric," this often-misunderstood quote by Theodor W. Adorno serves as a starting point to talk less about concrete art (works) and more extensively about a culture and its preconditions that make "Auschwitz and the like" possible. Introduced and moderated by the philosopher Tammo Jansen (co-initiator of the philosophical "root table" at Kunsthalle Lingen).
Sunday 2 April 2023, 4pm
Presentation of the photographic works from the children's workshop. Closing reception for family, friends and those interested.
Saturday 22 April 2023, 4pm
"Art for all": Johanna Balderhaar (art teacher at the Lise Meitner Gymnasium and chairwoman of the Kunstverein Grafschaft Bentheim) will give an introduction to the exhibition "double take". This format is intended for anyone who would like to learn about the exhibition in an accessible format and perhaps has not had much
contact with art before.
Sunday 23 April 2023, 4pm
"Kunst up Platt": Johanna Balderhaar (art teacher at the Lise Meitner Gymnasium and chairwoman of the Kunstverein Grafschaft Bentheim) will give an introduction to the exhibition "double take" in Plattdeutsch. This format is intended for anyone who would like to learn about the exhibition and is familiar with the language.
Sunday, 14 May 2023, 3pm
Talk in English and German with Anna Filippova (art critic, curator, cultural scientist with a focus on trauma) and Masha Pryven (artist), moderated by Muriel Meyer (artistic director).
This exhibition is supported by the Niedersächsische Ministerium für Wissenschaft und Kultur, and the Stadt- und Samtgemeinde Neuenhaus.
