Research Platform: Fedir Tetyanych. The Canon of Fripulia
The exhibition “Fedir Tetianych. The Canon of Fripulia” focuses on one aspect of the multifaceted creativity of the artist Fedir Tetianych, whose artistic practice encompassed painting, graphics, sculpture, text, performance, and more.
Being a member of the Artists’ Union, Tetianych was involved in executing official monumental art commissions, while at the same time his personality, behavior, and artistic practice constituted an alternative to the official Soviet culture. Tetianych was one of the pioneers of the performative genre in Ukrainian art: he is mostly known for his eccentric costumes made from trash and found materials. To create the costumes, the artist often used foil, scratchboards, etc., which produced a peculiar sound when moving. He wore such costumes in public spaces, including within the walls of the official Artists’ Union, which later earned him the reputation of a city eccentric who declared his own “eternity” and “infinity”: “I am the Boundlessness.” It is precisely the categories of eternity, infinity, boundlessness that formed the basis of his philosophical-artistic doctrine “Fripulia.”
In the exhibition “Fedir Tetianych. The Canon of Fripulia,” in contrast to the “trash aesthetics,” an attempt is made to conceptualize the artist’s practice by comprehending and presenting his texts as a self-sufficient medium and an integral part of his artistic practice. The second, no less important component of Fedir Tetianych’s worldview is the Biotechnosphere — a universal module for human habitation and movement. Its genesis should be sought in the utopian visions of Leonardo da Vinci, Mykola Fedorov, Vladimir Tatlin — Tetianych’s difference from his predecessors mainly lies in the introduction into his philosophical system of numerous attributes characteristic of the cybernetics era and space achievements. During the 1980s–1990s, the artist built about five Biotechnospheres, none of which have survived. Based on drawings, the curators of the exhibition undertook the reconstruction of two (one at a scale of 1:3, the other life-size), aiming to create complete, almost serial samples that their author could only dream of.
Guest curator: Valeriy Sakharuk
Co-curator: Tetiana Kochubynska
The works presented at the exhibition were created by Fedir Tetianych from the late 1960s to the early 2000s. Dates are deliberately not indicated in the captions to the works, as over the years the artist refined, reworked, and supplemented his works with new elements. It is precisely the processuality and the possibility of endless continuous movement, as opposed to dry fixation, that constituted the essence of Tetianych’s artistic practice.
This hall presents objects and fragments of installations that were in Fedir Tetianych’s studio at 8 Perspektyvna Street, as well as photographs of the studio interior taken by Yuriy Zmorovych in 2007.
