- Main
- Artists' works
- Esse Est TikTok
Popov Serhiy
Discover the artist and the works through the video at the link.
Esse Est Tiktok is an ironic commentary on our modern culture, where digital technologies are intertwined with eternal questions of existence. This paradoxical statement, engraved on stone, plays with concepts: the Latin language, as a symbol of eternity, grandeur, and philosophical rigor, is unexpectedly combined with the name of a popular social network.
This statement contains a profound philosophical subtext: if, in the past, true knowledge was embedded in eternity, and the foundation of reality lay in static forms of existence, today existence is reduced to fleeting moments meticulously measured by social networks and platforms like TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, and others, which have become the main arenas for self-expression and the search for identity.
The hand holding this stone references the famous gesture of Plato depicted in Raphael’s fresco “The School of Athens.” Combined into a sculptural composition, they draw a parallel between the ancient philosophical tradition and the modern state of public consciousness. It suggests that today, perhaps, we have replaced the pursuit of enlightenment with an endless stream of digital captions, turning our existence into a series of short but vivid moments. The irony of the inscription, paired with the classical motif of the gesture, serves as a reminder that even in the age of social media, humanity’s striving for knowledge and truth remains unchanged.
Born in Horishni Plavni, Ukraine in 1978.
Graduates from the National Aerospace University named after Nikolay Zhukovsky “Kharkiv Aviation Institute” in 2002.
In 2005, co-founded SOSka Group.
In 2015-2016, was a member of the Alliance22 art group.
In 2017, co-founded the artist-run organisation KNO | Kyiv Non Objective.
Works with painting, sculpture, video and photography.
Selected group exhibitions:
2019
– BIG CIRCLE, an international collaboration project of contemporary non-objective art at M17 Contemporary Art Center. Kyiv, Ukraine
2018
– RNOP – Cincinnati: New Work for a New System at Felsenhaus. Cincinnati, USA
– Infinite Worlds / Infinite Probabilities at the University of Southern Queensland. Toowoomba, Australia
– Point at Invogue#Art gallery. Odesa, Ukraine
– Neighbours at the Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw. Warsaw, Poland
– Cиметрія \ Symmetry at Abstract Project gallery. Paris, France
2017
– Anonymous Society at PinchukArtCentre. Kyiv, Ukraine
– 0/1 – KNO | Kyiv Non Objective at the Mala Gallery art laboratory of Mystetskyi Arsenal. Kyiv, Ukraine
– ASSEMBLAGE NO.4 Van Doesburg Fanclub at Concrete Store. Amsterdam, Netherlands
– Points of Approximation: Kharkiv at Kharkiv Municipal Gallery. Kharkiv, Ukraine
– Monochromia. Vol.2, vernissage at Theca Gallery. Milan, Italy
2016
– Via Line at Unlimited Art Foundation (now the Mironova Foundation). Kyiv, Ukraine
– The School of Prosperity. Performance at Wien Museum MUSA (jointly with The School of Kyiv project, the Kyiv Biennial 2015). Vienna. Austria
– Monochromia. Vol.1 at DIEHL gallery (jointly with Diehl CUBE). Berlin, Germany
2015
– Politics of Form at GfZK (Leipzig Museum of Contemporary Art). Leipzig. Germany
– The School of Kyiv at Kyiv Biennial 2015 at The House of Clothes (as the main venue). Kyiv, Ukraine
– Some Say You Can Find Happiness There at Visual Culture Research Center (VCRC). Kyiv, Ukraine
2014
– Power Verticals. Plywood Colonnades at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Kyiv, Ukraine
– SAY IT.UA> at the Künstlerhaus. Vienna, Austria
2013
– Ukrainian News at the Centre for Contemporary Art Ujazdowski Castle. Warsaw, Poland
2012
– Myth “Ukrainian Baroque” at the National Art Museum of Ukraine. Kyiv, Ukraine
– The First Kyiv International Biennale of Contemporary Art ARSENALE 2012 at Mystetskyi Arsenal. Kyiv, Ukraine
2011
– The Global Contemporary. Art Worlds After 1989 at the ZKM | Center for Art and Media Karlsruhe. Karlsruhe, Germany
2010
– Inter-Cool 3.0 at Hartware MedienKunstVerein (HMKV) / Dortmunder U center for the arts and creativity. Dortmund, Germany
– Numbers at EIDOS Modern Arts Center. Kyiv, Ukraine
2009
– The New History at Kharkiv Art Museum. Kharkiv, Ukraine
– Curated by, a project by SOSka Group and Galerie Hubert Winter at VIENNAFAIR. Vienna, Austria
– Wakefield Meadows at Pavilion UniCredit center for contemporary art and culture. Bucharest, Romania
2008
– Dreamers, a project by SOSka Group at PinchukArtCentre (Project Room). Kyiv, Ukraine
– New Print Politik: Post-Soviet Politics and Contemporary Art at the Ukrainian Institute of Modern Art. Chicago, USA
– Grabbing at Straw at Studio Guenzani gallery. Milan, Italy
2007
– The Art World at FEINKOST gallery. Berlin, Germany
– Communities. Young Ukrainian Art at Galeria Arsenał. Białystok, Poland
– GENERATIONS.UsA at PinchukArtCentre. Kyiv, Ukraine
2006
– Video Bend at Galerie Stadtpark. Krems, Austria
– Team Colors at F.A.I.T. gallery. Kraków, Poland
– New Communities within the Caucasus Biennial of Contemporary Art. Tbilisi, Georgia.
