YARAT CENTRE: LAST FLOWERS OF XX CENTURY – GENERATION Y GROUP EXHIBITION

YARAT Contemporary Art Space is pleased to announce a new group exhibition by emerging artists from Azerbaijan, Georgia, Israel, and Ukraine. Titled “Last flowers of XX century: Generation Y”, it explores the personality of Millennials through key subjects, questions, and issues.

“Generation Y”, or Millennials, are the people who were born in the XX century but grew up in a new millennium. They are highlighted as people different from the previous and next generations, which emphasises the uniqueness of this generation. As the last flowers of the previous century, they built the current reality through their personal realities.

The exhibition draws attention to ways of self-identification and self-expression through different levels of social perception. Reflecting reality with reference to Soviet past, it gives voice to the artists' youthful experience. Static or dynamic, stuck or in progress, it creates diverse images of how people make sense of their life. Embedded with memory and nostalgia, selected works also examine their social environment, which is crucial factor in the formation of this generation. Playing with concepts of culture, sub-culture, and trend, it reveals the core rhythms of lifestyle and behavior.  

“Last Flowers of XX century: Generation Y” brings together video, photography and photo installation works of six emerging artists. Selected works of Alina Orlov (Israel), Giorgi Rodionov (Georgia), Zamir Suleymanov (Azerbaijan), Yarema Malashchuk and Roman Himey (Ukraine), and Sasha Kurmaz (Ukraine) showcase different realities, values, and perceptions of youth from different countries who are living in the same time frame.

The exhibition is curated by Farah Alakbarli

Artist bios

Yarema Malashchuk and Roman Himey (Kyiv, Ukraine) work as visual artists, film directors and cinematographers. Both Himey and Malashchuk received their Bachelor's degrees from Institute of Screen Arts in Kyiv, graduating in 2013 and 2014 respectively. The main focus of their work is the exploration of the image of the crowd as a separate character in history and culture. They were awarded the Special Prize at PinchukArtCentre. The duo’s work was featured at “frei_raum Q21 exhibition space” Vienna, Austria (2019), and Bursa Gallery (2019, 2017), IZOLYATSIYA (2018), and PinchukArtCentre (2018), all based in Kyiv, Ukraine.

Alina Orlov (b. 1990, Moscow, Russia) is an artist based in Tel Aviv, Israel specializing in performance, video and sculpture. She graduated with honors from the BFA programme at Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design, Jerusalem, Israel and also holds an MFA in Film, Video, New Media and Animation from School of the Art Institute of Chicago in Chicago, USA. She has held solo shows in Sullivan Galleries, Chicago, USA (2019), and Rosenfeld Gallery (2019) and Maze 9 Gallery (2016), both in Tel Aviv, Israel. Orlov also participated in group exhibitions at SAIC Galleries, Chicago, USA (2020), Zhou B Art Center, Chicago, USA (2018), ARTIM Projects Space, Baku, Azerbaijan (2017), and Slade School of Art, London, UK (2014).

Giorgi Rodionov (b. 1990, Tbilisi, Georgia) is an artist and curator focused on social and political stories that change eras. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Journalism, graduating in Georgia; after his graduation he moved to Europe to get his MA in Contemporary Arts. Most of Giorgi’s works are based on his research that is later transformed into installation, performance, participative art, books or other different media. Being the founder of Untitled Gallery, his work has appeared across Europe and Georgia.

Sasha Kurmaz (b. 1986, Kyiv, Ukraine) is a street artist and photographer who experiments with different media. He graduated from Kiev Electromechanical College and National Academy of Culture and Arts Management in 2005 and 2008 respectively. His main artistic focus is researching the relationship between the individual, society and the state. His solo shows have been exhibited at Edmund Felson Gallery Berlin, Germany (2021, 2017), Chech Gallery (2018) and PinchukArtCentre (2016), both located in Kyiv, Ukraine, and UV21 Gallery, Warsaw, Poland (2015).

Zamir Suleymanov (b.1987, Baku, Azerbaijan) graduated with a Bachelor’s degree from Azerbaijan State Economic University, and completed postgraduate residency programme at Rijksakademie van Beeldende Kunsten in Amsterdam, The Netherlands (2018-2020). He began his creative work with classical photography and then switched to contemporary photo and video. Zamir’s creative experience is connected to his observation of features and paradoxes which are deemed to be an integral part of the socio-cultural realities of Azerbaijan. His work has appeared at Asian Art Museum, San Francisco, USA (2020), YARAT Contemporary Art Centre, Baku, Azerbaijan (2020), Rijksakademie Open Studios, Amsterdam, The Netherlands (2019), PinchukArtCentre, Kyiv, Ukraine (2019), and MoMA,Tbilisi, Georgia (2019).

Notes to editors:

Exhibition: Last flowers of XX century: Generation Y

Location: YARAT Contemporary Art Centre (National Flag Square)

Dates: 10 June – 21 November, 2021

Exhibition opens: Tuesday through Sunday, from 12 pm – 8 pm

Admission is free