Bohdan Bunchak
(1995) — born in Bolekhiv (Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast, Ukraine) for several years. He studied at the Department of Fine Arts at the Institute of Arts of Borys Grinchenko Kyiv University. In 2018, he graduated from the Kyiv Academy of Media Arts. Before the full-scale invasion lived and worked in Kyiv, from 2023 volunteered to join the Ukrainian army, was serving under the name “Pillar” as an assault group commander and was injured by Kreminna. His artistic and research interests include the relationship between Orthodoxy and contemporary art.
Then I dreamed of war
2023,
drawing
Bohdan Bunchak is an artist who joined the army after the Russian attack; he was injured and had to undergo emergency spinal surgery. «The work was created in the hospital during the first week after my injury. It occurred to me that if I drew, I would feel better. Already after the first drawing, I realized that I’m not into drawing anymore, I don’t want to draw. Yaroslav Futymskyi [an artist friend] came to visit me. I decided to get rid of the drawing by giving it to Yaroslav. I dreamed that I was at the position without weapons. The enemy was advancing; I could already see them, I could already hear them, but I was unarmed. The feeling of defenselessness twisted my whole body, I lost all hope, and fear contorted the features of my face. Surrounded by the bodies of my fallen comrades, I had no one to count on. After I woke up, I prayed for a long time. For a long time, I could not fall asleep again.» (Bohdan Bunchak)
Augarten Contemporary, hoast, IG Architektur, Laurenz, Neuer Kunstverein Wien, Never At Home, Waffen Franz Kapfer, New Jörg, Ve.Sch
October 17–December 17
Main Exhibition
Curators: Serge Klymko, Hedwig Saxenhuber and Georg Schöllhammer
What Prevents a Sermon from Being a Sermon Becomes One
2023,
audio recording (60 min.), photos
I was offered to make this work on one of my first days at Oleksandrivska Hospital, where I was evacuated after being wounded. I was in a high state of mind and felt I had the strength to do anything. My interest in art had somewhat dried up at that time, but I left myself the opportunity to use art as a language of preaching. Thus, I came up with improvisation in the spirit of live radio broadcasts: there is some music, some words and stories about life, pieces of tracks, humming, and then broken words and phrases. It’s hardly a sermon. I hope that what could not be a sermon becomes one. After being discharged from the hospital, I was quickly drawn into life in the rear. It’s good that there is a zone of more or less comfortable life, but the longer you stay here, the harder it is to go back. Back to war. The best sermon is to share your own, not to quote someone else. I had a lot of doubts about this work: in general, why is it necessary? I reserve the possibility to think of it as an opportunity to talk about God, not art, although it is also about art.
Asortymentna kimnata
October 7–October 30
On The Periphery Of War
Curated by Alona Karavai, Roman Khimei, Yarema Malashchuk, Anton Usanov
