Eurorenovation (euroremont): The art of concealing

Machines, Spiders and Buccaneers WALKING AROUND THE SUN. Notes on Europe. The Dogmatic Sleep. 30 Chief Curator IZOLYATSIA. Platform for Cultural Initiatives, Kyiv, Ukraine Eurorenovation (euroremont): ABSTRACT Soon after the collapse of the Soviet Union, the phenomenon of Eurorenovation emerged ready to help numerous citizens of the newly established Ukrainiain state to get rid of their gloomy past. The movement, disguised as the reorganization of the private space of one’s own home, actually functioned as a face-lift and a cover-up of all sorts of problems instead of the much-needed search for solutions. Plastic euro-windows and euro-doors, dropped ceiling and plastic paneling flooded Ukraine, mimicking European design and eventually the lifestyle while effectively ignoring massive infrastructural problems, poverty and the immense gap between a devastated country in transition and a seemingly flourishing Europe. In 2010, R.E.P. group initiated a long-term project called Eurorenovation aiming at identifying symptoms of this process and consequently apprehending Eurorenovation in its complexity in order to be able to describe similar sociocultural relations in other countries. Over the following years the artists created a series of installations, where they literally copied recognizable trends in the popular interior redesign of Soviet apartments EURORENOVATION (EUROREMONT): THE ART OF CONCEALING Kateryna Filyuk 31 The fastest empirical way to learn about Eurorenovation would be to browse numerous Ukrainian apartment rental websites, where one would find quickly diminishing category of granny’s-Sovi - et-style Khrushchevka, a relatively small category of modern apartments and the seven seas of eurorenovated flats. Built in the 60s during Khrushchev’s rule, ugly cookie-cutter Khrushchevkas visualized the Soviet idea of equality and unification under which differences were not only inadmissible but also barely impossible to achieve due to the limited market. These cheap block buildings conceived as a temporary solution to a hous ing problem were not meant to last more than 25 years, however, to this day most Khrush chevkas have never been replaced and, as the saying goes, there is nothing more permanent than the temporary. Understandably, time left its mark on them and already in the 90s a prompt renovation has been required. This is one of the reasons why Eurorenovation became a predominant architectural and interior design style in all post-Soviet countries. Initially as a temporary solution in anticipation of over haul maintenance. Aesthetically, after the fall of the Iron Wall thirsty for changes and striv ing for the Western way of life, those who failed tried to imitate the latest at any costs. But they didn’t know very much about real Western life, so they created some strange copy, which to Western people seems like a bit of a caricature. The hallmarks of Eurorenovation are cheap materials, replaceable surfaces, drywall and plastic, plastic euro-windows and euro-doors, fake stucco molding, dropped ceiling, predominant The art of concealing Kateryna Filyuk Eurorenovation, mimicry, architecture, decommunisation. KEYWORDS using cheap imported materials. Strange as it may sound, but Europe – Ukraine’s role model – may have fallen into the very same trap. A tendency towards the cosmetic concealment of problem areas and patching up instead of coming up with problem-solving methodologies characterizes European governance in recent years. With that said, the Ukrainian know-how could be of practical value as well as the R.E.P. group visual research that convincingly demonstrate the dangers of the Eurorenovation approach. Machines, Spiders and Buccaneers WALKING AROUND THE SUN. Notes on Europe. The Dogmatic Sleep. 32 colour – beige. It was an embodiment of a cheap dream, the temptation of advertising, physically displacing an unworthy reality. At the same time these techniques served to conceal unrepairable and uneven walls – the results of rushed mass-production of the 60s. Eventually, the plague of Eurorenovation became a lifestyle or even an operational para digm, not just an interior design solution of practical matters. It invaded TV programs and fashion as much as public politics. Gimmick mimicry, false façades with no foundation, and cosmetic renovations instead of drastic actions were exercised in various fields characteriz ing a new era. Although Western and namely European values had always been triggering, the Eurorenovation processes owning a debt of its name to Europe. As in many other cases and disciplines in Ukraine, initially good inten tions of catching and grading up with Europe turned out to be a sheer imitation of reforms, democratisation of society and adoption of the Euro-integration path. The omnipresent corruption still intoxicates multiple sectors of the economy and private life of the people, but, thanks to the art of camouflage, the country looks quite modernized and “European”. With time, the former Soviet Union countries drifted apart, irretrievably pursuing each its own path, however it would not be too much of a generalization to say that they are still by and large governed by double standards – a glossy façade often contradicts the back stage hideousness. Arguably infamous decommunisation can be analysed through the Eurorenovation prism too. The laws of decommunisation had been adopted by the Parliament on April 9th, 2015, and, ever since its legalisation, the witch-hunt has been fully embraced and put in practice by Ukrainian bureaucrats and activists. At first, with the wiping out of Lenin’s monuments, the prosecuting pursuit soon touched upon everything that contained Soviet symbols and could be supposedly classified as Communist propaganda. The cities, villages, and streets received new names, such as one of the most populated cities in eastern Figure 1 Figure 2 Figure 1. Cherepanova U. (1960s), Doppelganger: Krokodil (Crocodile) magazine. The series of caricatures illustrating Khrushchevka’s paradoxes. Even at the moment of their construction, block buildings were heavily criticized and ridiculed for poor soundproofing, ugly design and the low quality of materials. Figure 2. An example of Eurorenovation interior taken from an interior design website. The title of the article is What is Eurorenovation? and it briefly explains what the term means. Source: https://dom.ria.com/uk/articles/chto-takoeevroremont-173890.html EURORENOVATION (EUROREMONT): THE ART OF CONCEALING Kateryna Filyuk 33 Figure 4 Ukraine – Dnipropetrovsk, which was renamed Dnipro. The second part of the compound word had referred to the name of the Bolshevik and Soviet Communist Party leader Grigory Petrovsky, who became one of the masterminds of the Holodomor artificial famine in Ukraine in 19321933. Hence in their pursuit of the new, stripped of dubious past identity, Ukrainians resorted to violent, uncivilized and expectedly thoughtless methods suspiciously resembling those of Eurorenovation. It’s only the façade that has to be face-lifted and covered-up, although the Soviet mindset doesn’t go away that easily. As of spring 2019, over one thousand settlements were renamed and approximately 2,5 thousand communist monuments dismantled. the very beginning, they also successfully combined with activism. In 2010, R.E.P. initiated a long-term project called Eurorenovation aiming at identifying symptoms of this process and consequently apprehending Eurorenovation in its complex ity in order to be able to describe similar socio-cultural relations in other countries. Over the following years the artists created a series of installations where they literally copied recognizable trends in the popular interior redesign of Soviet apartments using cheap imported materials. For the first iteration of the project at Kunstraum in Munich, R.E.P. invited and interviewed a professional decorator very familiar with Eurorenovation. Ultimately, the work consisted of the video in which the decorator described the style and provided some historical background as well as an interior designed by her. Since then, the group has produced more than five iterations of the project, always tuning it to the current political situation or commenting on working conditions in cultural sector etc. It comes as no surprise that the phenomenon of Eurorenovation caught the attention of the back-then-young members of R.E.P. group, which formed during social protests and whose collaboration was forged by the Orange Revolution (2004). Accordingly, socio-political issues have been the core of their artistic practice, which, at Figure 3 Figure 3. The equestrian statue of Nikolay Shchors, Kyiv (2016). Ukrainian authorities decided to camouflage the monument by wrapping it up with an enormous bicolour — blue and yellow — fabric, resembling the national Ukrainian flag. As the turn of events follows, the cover-up was done in order to eliminate the allegedly displeasing monuments during the Independence Day celebration (!), while, at the same time, to decorate the city with a much more cherished and pride-inducing national symbol. Four years later, the blue and yellow semi-transparent cube, with the easily recognisable equestrian silhouette inside of it, is still there. Photo by Yevgen Nikiforov. Figure 4. R.E.P. (revolutionary experimental space) Eurorenovation. Cut, 2012. This installation explores the ways post-Soviet spaces are converted following an aesthetic that from an old soviet perspective appears to be in a Western style. Machines, Spiders and Buccaneers WALKING AROUND THE SUN. Notes on Europe. The Dogmatic Sleep. 34 According to group member Nikita Kadan, by scrutinizing various manifestations of Euroren - ovation, they seek to analyse genuine Ukrainian context but also: Thus, for the R.E.P. group, the phenomenon of Eurorenovation applied to the analysis of social life opens up a broader discussion on the process of Ukraine’s post-Soviet trans formation into a western neoliberal state. In a conversation that took place in 2015, the group members expressed hope that after the Revolution of Dignity, which is undeniably one of the most important political events in the history of Modern Europe, the phenomenon of Eurorenovation will subside. Resorting to the language of architecture, which is the frame work of this paper, the barricades on Maidan Square symbolized pure, genuine aspiration for freedom and the negation of all-permeating hypocrisy. Made of found materials and serving exclusively utilitarian goals, the tents and barri cades were supposed to cancel the Euroreno vation forever. But from the Kyiv city center the front line moved to Eastern Ukraine, where war with the Russiabacked terrorists is ongoing. The clear example of Eurorenovation mind set is expressed in the so-called Minsk Protocol – an agreement to halt the war in the Donbas region, signed by representatives of Ukraine, the Russian Federation, the Donetsk People's Republic and the Luhansk People's Republic on 5 September 2014. The agreement, signed under the auspices of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), has totally failed to stop the fighting. And yet, it is constantly being referred to by the Russian Federation as a viable solution. The Stein meier Formula is a more recent example of this illusion at play. Steinmeier's formula calls for elections to be held in the separatist-held territories under Ukrainian legislation and the supervision of the OSCE. If, for the OSCE judges, the balloting is free and fair, then a special self-governing status for the territories will be initiated and Ukraine will give back the control of its easternmost border. In this case again, and according to OSCE rules and regula tions, elections cannot take place in territories where regular troops are stationed. However, OSCE is ready to neglect the rules in favour of Russia, capitulating instead of standing for princi ples. Allegedly these, as much as many other recent actions of Europe, are doubtful and problem atic as well as hypocritical. They are merely directed toward fortifying the spirit and creat ing a feeling that everything is alright, building up the false façade of welfare and justice. And so, the process and purpose of Eurorenovation is a powerful metaphor for the aforementioned geopolitical positioning of contemporary Europe. This early post-Soviet phenome non rooted in the admiration of a culturally and economically superior Europe has made its way back to the founder. It remains unclear what is to be spotted in this situation of innumerable reciprocal reflections as Kadan refers when describing the aim of the Eurorenovation project. By putting the accent on the subjectivities of post-Soviet space, we argue that it is not merely some caricatured and grotesque object for observation and that it has its own perspective on the West. And we want to show the West (in the West) the East’s view of the West. So we put up not one mirror, but two. And they reflect one another. One is located in post-Soviet space, the other in the so-called free, united Europe. And we create a situation of innumerable reciprocal reflections that with every change of context reveal new images (Kadan, 2011). 35 REFERENCES * R.E.P. Revolutionary Experimental Space (2015). The Green Box. Berlin: Kunst Editionen. * R.E.P. Group in Conversation with Larissa Babij (2011). https://artmargins.com/rep-group-conversation-larissa-babij/ * Bruno Latour (2017). Down to Earth. Politics in the New Climatic Regime. Cambridge: Polity Press. Kateryna Filyuk is a curator and art critic. Currently, she is the chief curator at Izolyatsia. Platform for Cultural Initiatives in Kyiv. Prior to joining Izolyatsia, she was the co-curator of the Festival of Young Ukrainian Artists at Mystetskyi Arsenal, Kyiv (2017). She has participated in several internationally renowned curatorial programs, including Young Curators Residency Programme at the Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, Turin (2017); De Appel Curatorial Programme, Amsterdam (2015–2016); International Research Fellowship at the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art (MMCA), Seoul (2014); and Gwangju Biennale International Curator Course (2012). She was the catalogue managing editor and discussion platform coordinator for the First Kyiv International Biennale of Contemporary Art ARSENALE 2012. She holds an MA in philosophy from Odessa I. I. Mechnikov National University.