The Kazimir Malevich Artistic Award, founded in 2008 at the initiative of the Polish Institute, witnesses the memory and recognition of Kazimir Malevich, an artist of Polish origin who was born in Kyiv.

The goal of the award is:

–       to remind and place emphasis on the importance of Malevich as a symbol of the world cultural heritage;

–       to point the attention of the Ukrainian elite on the Ukrainian roots of Poles who achieved world recognition;

–       to place emphasis on the role of Poland as a country that celebrates creative achievements of modern Ukrainian artists in the context of common Polish and Ukrainian cultural heritage;

–       promotion and increase of the prestige of modern artists who were born in Ukraine and help in development of intelligible criteria of assessment of artists who create actual art.

The Malevich award is given once in two years to an artist aged below 40 who was born in Ukraine, regardless of their current place of residence, for their contribution to the contemporary art development. The quality, mastery, achievements and significance of works are assessed.

There are no limitations based on education or directions of activity. Candidates for the award may be nominated by Ukrainian and foreign cultural institutions, scientific centers, artistic associations, galleries and museums.

Thus, the goal of the Malevich Award is also to activate the international cooperation between cultural institutions.

Previously the award was granted to Alevtyna Kakhidze  (2008), Stas Voliazlovskyi (2010), Zhanna Kadyrova (2012), and Lada Nakonechna (2014).

The award will be granted by an international jury:

Lada Nakonechna, laureate of the Malevich Award 2014 (Ukraine)

Pavlo Makov, artist (Ukraine)

Małgorzata Ludwisiak, director of the Center for Contemporary Art “Ujazdowski Castle” (Poland)

Ewa Figel, director of the Polish Institute in Kyiv (Poland) – head of the jury

Waldemar Tatarczuk, director of the Labyrinth Gallery in Lublin (Poland)

Alisa Lozhkina, deputy director at Mystetskyi Arsenal, editor-in-chief ART UKRAINE magazine (Ukraine)

Natalia Zhevaho, founder of the “Cultural Project” educational organization (Ukraine)

Secretary of the jury – Maria Zaichenko (Polish Institute in Kyiv).

Send your application, motivational statement (up to 500 words) and a set of 10 photos/reproductions (up to 10 Mb) along with the description of projects (up to 200 words) beforeOctober 15, 2016 to the address of the Polish Institute in Kyiv:maria.zaichenko(at)instytutpolski.org with the subject line “MALEWICZ 2016”.

Download the application form>>

The jury will select three finalists from the nominees and announce their names on November 1, 2016. 

The laureate will be selected by the simple majority by means of the secret ballot procedure the day before the Ceremony of awarding.

The grand ceremony will take place on November 18, 2016  in the  FEDORIV Hub space (Velyka Vasylkivska st., 5)

The Laureate of the Kazimir Malevich award 2016 will receive:

• Money reward of 3000 EUR (in UAH equivalent) from the Polish Institute in Kyiv;
• Residence in the Center for Contemporary Art “Ujazdowski Castle” in Warsaw in January of 2018; 

Finalists of the award (3 persons) and representatives of the applicant organizations (3 persons) will be invited to make a studio trip to Poland in 2017.

One of the nominees will receive a special award from the Kyiv-Mohyla Business School for the “breakthrough concept”.

Many Poles were born in Ukraine, whose creative works became a part of the world cultural heritage. Among them are writers Joseph Conrad Korzeniowski and Stanislaw Lem, artist Kazimir Malevich, dancer Vatslav Nijinsky, composer Karol Szymanowski and others. Most of these prominent artists are not associated directly neither with Poland nor with Ukraine. The creation of the Malevich Award is a reason to remind about the contribution of the Poles associated with Ukraine in the forming of the world cultural heritage.

Kazimir Malevich was an artist, pedagogue and theoretician, whose figure is crucial for modern art. He was born in a Polish family in Kyiv and spent many years of his life there. For a long time he lived and worked in Russia. He became one of the founders of abstract painting and in 1915 started a new avant-garde art direction,suprematism.

In 2010 the excursion “Kyiv places of Kazimir Malevich” was created with the support of the Polish Institute in Kyiv.

And in 2012  the group of Alevtyna Kakhidze, Oleh Hryshchenko, and Ivan Melnychuk created the author’s film “KLM: Kyiv Listens to Malevich”

In 2016, Tetiana Filevska’s study “Kazimir Malevich. The Kyiv Period 1928-1930” was published. 

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Ukraine
1 August – 18 November