RENAISSANCE OF KYIV: Cultural activities, and fashion, in the spotlight

by Natalia A. Feduschak

KYIV - Serhei Platonov sits serenely at a table, a Roman-era death mask encased in glass behind him.

"When you get to my age, you begin to think about what you'll leave behind," said Mr. Platonov, giving his head a backward nod.

At 66, Mr. Platonov is a man on a mission. He hopes to establish a museum in Kyiv that would become synonymous with the city itself, much like the Louvre is associated with Paris or The Metropolitan Museum of Art with New York. As the heart of the collection, Mr. Platonov has offered his own acquisitions of antiquities and rarities, many of which come from Ukraine and number in the several thousands.

As the idea of a museum wins increasing support from the public, Mr. Platonov is emerging as a new type of cultural figure in Kyiv - a philanthropist who follows in the tradition of individuals who are willing to open their pocketbooks and hearts to leave the city a legacy.

As Ukraine begins to shed layers of Soviet rule that affected all aspects of life, Kyiv's culture is slowly beginning to come into its own. Even as many citizens eke out a living, the arts, literature and theater are undergoing a rebirth. If two years ago most people didn't give culture a second thought, today it has become one of the most vibrant aspects of Ukrainian society.

This new Ukrainian culture is a mixture of old and new, a mingling of the traditional, some Soviet leftovers and one that increasingly has a European flair.

Although people like Mr. Platonov are still a rarity, he is the next link in a long legacy of Kyiv philanthropists. The sugar magnate Brodskyi family helped establish educational institutions, hospitals and Jewish institutions, including Kyiv's famed Brodskyi synagogue in the city center. The Tarnavsky and Khanenko families left their imprint in the arts with the donation of a gallery to the city. The Tereshenkos promoted political causes and built enterprises.

Mr. Platonov did not start out with a dream of establishing a museum in Kyiv. A prominent businessman, Mr. Platonov has spent most of his life collecting antiquities and other rarities, many of which come from Ukraine. He recently donated a significant part of his collection to Ukraine's history museum. The rest he would like to house in the new museum where people like himself also could display their collections.

"This is the culmination of my work and efforts to have [antiquities] stay in Ukraine rather than go abroad," said Mr. Platonov. "The important thing is there has been so much negative information about Ukraine. This museum could change some minds. There is a better way to promote the nation."

Kyiv residents have already been able to view some of Mr. Platonov's collection at the Kyiv Pecherska Lavra in an exhibit titled "For You, Ukraine," which recently closed. Part of the collection will now be shown at St. Sophia Cathedral.

The exhibit included countless pieces of pottery from the Trypillian period, glasswork, ornaments from the ancient Greeks who settled the south of Ukraine and Crimea, as well as coins and metals once belonging to Kyivan Rus' kings and Kozak leaders.

What makes the collection so special is that some of the pieces have very few analogues in the world, including a Trypillian child's toy shaped like a wagon and adorned with yin and yang symbols, or ritual jewelry belonging to the Sarmatians, a people who once inhabited Ukraine.

"These people are in our blood," said Mr. Platonov. "These are old civilizations that people don't know about."

What Mr. Platonov has learned over the years is that, judging from the many ceremonial ornaments he has seen - many of which are made out of gold - the people who inhabited Ukraine had their economic needs met.

"What the jewelry says to me is that any people who could think about these things weren't struggling to survive," he said. "You cannot say this was just a culture, it was a real civilization. Ukraine was at the crossroads of all trade routes. All the cultures left their imprint on Ukraine."

That cultural imprint continues to this day. Fashion in particular has become a center point.

Fashion in the limelight

The stereotypical Western image of Ukrainian women is that of paper-thin, drop-dead beautiful vixen, clad in skin-tight jeans and lacy shirts. While that does define many young women who parade the capital city's central boulevard, the Khreschatyk, designer Mrs. Babenko said an increasing number of her clients want something new in the clothes they wear.

"There is a drive for individualism," said Anna Babenko, 35, one of Ukraine's top designers, who has designed clothing for some of the country's leading television personalities, politicians and businesswomen. Although mass fashion does dominate, gone are the days of the drab Soviet look. The Ukrainian taste leans toward southern Europe, particularly Italy, with vibrant colors becoming the norm.

For those who have money, designers like Ms. Babenko are called on to create something special for a specific occasion.

Ms. Babenko's boutique, located on Velyka Zhytomyrska Street near Mykhailivska Ploscha, reflects this new taste of the Ukrainian woman. With lace covering silk and fabrics that look like Ukrainian embroidery flowing into the constraints of a business suit, her clothes are a mingling of Italy, the Victorian age and India.

Like many of her colleagues, Ms. Babenko has also begun to understand the importance of philanthropy and how those involved in cultural life can help promote important social causes. Earlier this November she joined the country's leading designers in a benefit fashion show to raise funds to purchase equipment for early detection of breast cancer. Ukrainian women have one of Europe's highest breast cancer rates.

"This is an illness that could touch anyone," said Ms. Babenko. "This type of project is something new for us, so we wanted to participate."

A rebirth of the arts

Meanwhile, as the economy continues to improve, audiences are beginning to return to the theater after a lackluster few years. Actors are regularly featured in newspapers and magazines. While some may be from Russia, the focus is increasingly on Ukrainian or international stars.

But theater has had to compete with Western-made films, which draw a much younger audience that is willing to pay to see popular movies. Ukrainians, however, are beginning to talk about how they want theater - and the domestic movie industry - to develop in the future. Because many theater companies don't have the funds to produce new shows, some artists are taking the initiative themselves to woo audiences with new approaches.

Mariana Sadovska and Victoria Hanna are a Ukrainian and Jewish artist duo who made their first theatrical appearances together in Kyiv and the western Ukrainian city of Lviv. Combining ancient Yiddish and Ukrainian lore, the women have created a new look and sound that has won widespread praise and interest here.

Their program touches on themes important to each culture, such as religion, love and marriage. A recent performance in Kyiv offered a medley of song and performance in Yiddish and Ukrainian that gave theater-goers a connection with cultures past and a promise that these cultures will live on in the future.

"It's important to show these two cultures together," said Ms. Sadovska, who is originally from Lviv and now lives in Germany. Kyiv's Jewish community harks back to the ninth century and thus has long been part of the Ukrainian landscape.

"Young Israelis aren't so much into the Yiddish, 'shtetl' culture," said Ms. Hanna, who lives in Jerusalem and visited Ukraine for the first time this year. "But I feel this land, I have a memory here. Maybe we have some knowledge [of Ukraine] in our genes."

Marta Bohachevska Chomiak, who runs the U.S. government-funded Fulbright program in Ukraine, said many of the changes taking place in the cultural arena are positive.

"I see lots of hope," said Dr. Bohachevska Chomiak, whose program has sent more than 250 Ukrainian students to study in the United States. "It's important for Ukraine to recognize that it is not any different than a country emerging from a colonial experience."

Andrei Kurkov is a writer who describes the new Ukraine that is emerging from its colonial past. Perhaps Ukraine's best known writer on the international scene, he has gained a wide following in Europe and is now making inroads in the U.S.

Mr. Kurkov's recent work, "Death and the Penguin," is a hilarious if thought-provoking look at how one individual can easily get caught in the web of corruption and banditry after the fall of the Soviet Union. Set in Kyiv, Mr. Kurkov's book evokes images of the city's passing seasons and juxtaposes these with how individuals themselves change and adapt to a new society.

"Everything that is absurd, I take to the next level of absurdity," Mr. Kurkov said of his work.

What makes Mr. Kurkov particularly noteworthy here is that he is the product of two worlds: an ethnic Russian, he was born in St. Petersburg, but spent most of his life in Kyiv.

A man who says he cannot imagine himself living any place else other than Kyiv, Mr. Kurkov said: "I am a Ukrainian of Russian origin."

That statement indicates perhaps one of the most profound cultural changes taking place here: many people, regardless of their ethnicity, are coming to see themselves not just as Ukrainian in citizenship but also in spirit. Many locals, like Mr. Platonov and Ms. Babenko, may find it easier to express themselves in Russian, but they consider themselves to be true Ukrainian patriots.

The next challenge, according to Fulbright director Dr. Chomiak, is to promote the use of Ukrainian in television and in mass culture.

"I'm all for shlock culture," she said. "That's how you popularize the language."

Even the business world is embracing aspects of Ukrainian culture to promote their endeavors. XXI Century, a privately held investment company, has looked to the past to decorate the three high-end restaurants it owns and manages in Kyiv. The decor and food are Ukrainian, and many pieces of pottery and interior design were culled from Ukrainian villages. The company also has plans to unveil a chain of Ukrainian fast-food restaurants, with exteriors that will resemble a Ukrainian village house.

"This," said company president Leo Partskhaladze, "is something that is ours."

Natalia A. Feduschak is a freelance journalist who has written for The Washington Times, The Denver Post, The Wall Street Journal and other U.S.- and Canada-based publications. She divides her time between the United States and Ukraine. She is also a former staffer of The Ukrainian Weekly (1985-1987). This article is the fourth in a series on the "Renaissance of Kyiv."

Copyright © The Ukrainian Weekly, November 24, 2002, No. 47, Vol. LXX

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