About M17

M17 Contemporary Art Center

M17 Contemporary Art Center (M17 CAC) is a cultural institution that functions as an educational and research platform, an exhibition venue for Ukrainian and foreign contemporary art.

The activities of the Center are aimed at creating a dialogue space for professional circles and all agents of the culture sector as a whole, at study and research of contemporary and related historical cultural processes.

CAC supports art experiments, collaborations and international exchanges for experts, artists from various art fields to integrate Ukrainian art into the world context.

M17 cooperates with the National Union of Artists of Ukraine and is one of the largest certain non-governmental exhibition spaces in the capital. The total area of the Center building is 1238 m² enabling to realize ambitious ideas. The technical equipment of the Center complies with international standards, which had already brought to fruition several milestone museum-quality projects.

M17 CAC exists thanks to implemented projects, support from national and international cultural organizations, corporate partners and benefactors. The Adamovskiy Foundation has an important role to play in executing the Center’s strategies.

 

Сhairman of the Board of Trustees of M17 CAC


Сhairman of the Board of Trustees of M17 Contemporary Art Center is Andriy Adamovskiy, Ukrainian philanthropist, collector and founder of the Adamovskiy Foundation, member of the Supervisory Board of the National Museum “Kyiv Art Gallery” and the Odesa Art Museum. Andriy Adamovskiy leads the process of implementing the center’s development strategy and provides continuous exhibition and project activities of M17.


 

Executive director of M17 CAC


Executive director of M17 Contemporary Art Center is Natalia Shpytkovska, curator, consultant and art manager; Natalia has a Ph.D. in cultural studies at the Modern Art Research Institute of the National Academy of Arts of Ukraine. 


 

 

 

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History

M17 Contemporary Art Center was founded in the summer of 2010. Its name refers back to the title of the Myasishchev M-17 interceptor aircraft, whose speed was able to exceed the speed of sound during flights in the stratosphere. It represented the Centre’s desire to become a conductor of latest trends in contemporary world art for Ukrainian audience.

In 12 years, hundreds of events have taken place at the Center, dozens of exhibitions with the participation of famous international authors have been organized, and the CAC has become a platform for visionary curatorial projects and important educational programs.

In 2018, the Center’s redesign was made. The new pattern on the facade based on the square angled of 45º was designed to be a reference to Kazimir Malevich and the traditions of the Ukrainian avant-garde – the art movement, which was also ahead of its time. And the presentation of the Ukrainian art avant-garde became exactly what marked the beginning of the new stage of the activities of the updated M17 CAC in December 2018, when the “Avant-garde: Searching for the Fourth Dimension” exhibition and educational project was organized.

Among the most notable episodes in the chronicles of the Center’s existence are:

  • “Italian Transavantgarde” exhibition;
  • “New Generation: The Artist and His Birth Cohort” International Forum dedicated to the 140th anniversary of Kazimir Malevich;
  • “Reforming the Space” project and the Sculptural Forum within it;
  • “Big Circle” international collaboration project of contemporary non-objective art;
  • “Frontier. New Monuments” festival and exhibition about art and VR technologies compound.

The separate M17 Sculpture Project research direction has been established for the development of three-dimensional art in Ukraine, as well as the country’s largest professional award for sculptors – M17 Sculpture Prize.

To be continued.

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"It is important for me to unite colleagues, friends and all people who are interested in art. I believe that we are doing a meaningful thing. For more than 12 years, the M17 Contemporary Art Center has been developing and transforming Ukrainian society through artistic processes. Among the visitors of the Center there are children, students, youth, artists, scientists and many interested people. I get great pleasure from interaction with this community, and the success of our exhibition projects is inspiring."

Andriy Adamovskiy, сhairman of the Board of Trustees of M17 Contemporary Art Center
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"Experiments and evolution are the two basic values contained in the M17 CAC concept. These ideas are reflected in the programme activities of the institution. The M17 CAC initiated the M17 Sculpture Project research direction and established a professional award for sculptors named M17 Sculpture Prize. We support art projects using innovative technologies, and we cooperate with experts and museum specialists, public organizations, foundations and institutes."

Natalia Shpytkovska, Executive director of M17 CAC