Alevtina Kakhidze est l’invitée de SCHUNCK, à Heerlen aux Pays-Bas. Elle y investit les vitrines du bâtiment et expose à la bibliothèque une série de dessins récemment acquise par l’institution. A l’église Saint-Pancrace, elle est commissaire d’une exposition réunissant les oeuvres d’une quinzaine d’artistes ukrainiens.

Alevtina Kakhidze’s drawings, installations and videos deal with identity, the war in Russia-Ukraine, the complex dynamics between East and West, power relations, the role of capitalism and our consumer culture, and cultural contradictions and conflicts.

Alevtina Kakhidze was born in Eastern Ukraine, a region which has been plagued by the Russian-Ukranian war since 2014. Alevtina lives and works in the Kyiv region and made a conscious decision to remain in Ukraine after the invasion of Russian forces in February 2022. Kakhidze’s drawings and texts convey her personal experiences of war in real time and pose searching questions for the actions of the occupying powers. Her work expresses opposition to violence and makes an appeal for peace. In so doing, she not only explores culture, but nature too. After all, plants, even those that are invasive, will grow peacefully alongside native species, so for her they represent a symbol of pacifism. She always adds that “plants are pacifists as much as possible on our planet”. In the spring of 2024 she will be creating a site-specific work in SCHUNCK’s store window. The display window of the former Schunck department store carries some significance for her: in 2005 an installation of her drawings was exhibited here. The very location is symbolic she believes: When I see a shop window with adorable goods, I think it’s a sign of peaceful life. Because if there was a war, no one would put those goods there. 

There is a whole generation of artists in Ukraine who have a voice, and deserve to be heard. With this in mind, Alevtina Kakhidze is bringing works by 14 different Ukrainian artists, which will be displayed at St Pancratius Church under the title ‘What hinders a sermon becomes one’. In line with the venue, all the selected artworks are in relation to concepts or practices that have an association with the Catholic faith, with themes such as bread, wine and heaven. For instance, there are recordings of an artist leading soldiers in prayer at the front. But there is also a work made of glass shards, the result of war. The artist collects the shards from bombed-out houses and tries to restore the objects. Participating artists: Mykhailo Alekseenko, Yuriy Bolsa, Bohdan Bunchak, Yuliia Elyas, Zheka (Yevhen) Holubientsev, Zhanna Kadyrova, Alexander Krolikowski, Volodymyr Kuznetsov, Krystyna Melnyk, Marharyta Polovinko, Stanislav Turina, Tamara Turliun, Tereza Yakovyna en Albina Yaloza.

Alevtina Kakhidze (b. 1973, Zhdanivka (UA)) lives and works in Muzychi (UA). She studied at the National Academy of Fine Art and Architecture in Kyiv (UA) (1999-2004) and at the Jan van Eyck Academie in Maastricht (2004-2006). She has been a UN envoy in Ukraine since 2018 and won the Kazimir Malevich Artist Award (2008), the first prize for the Competition for Young Curators and Artists, Kyiv, Center for Contemporary Art at NaUKMA (2002). She received an Honorary Mention at ‘State of the ART(ist)’ by Ars Electronica and the Austrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (2023), and won the Women in Arts Award, by UN Women Ukraine (2023). She has taken part in diverse exhibitions across the globe, including Manifesta 10 (2014), Manifesta 14 (2022) and Kaleidoscope of (Hi)stories – Art from Ukraine in Museum De Fundatie, Zwolle (2023). In 2022, SCHUNCK acquired nine of Alevtina Kakhidze’s drawings for its collection of modern and contemporary art. 

Opening hours:
Store window: on display for the duration, free admission
SCHUNCK Glaspaleis: Monday-Saturday: 9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m., Sunday: 11:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.
St. Pancratius Church: Monday-Friday: 9:30 a.m. – 10:30 a.m., Saturday: 2:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.