NEW YORK – Yara Arts Group created the exhibit “Kurbas in Kharkiv” at the Yermilov Center in Kharkiv this past winter. A satellite version of the exhibition titled “Kurbas in Kharkiv: Hello, This Is Radio 477!” was shown May 16-28 in Mukachiv, in the foyer of the Mukachevo Drama Theater as part of SlobodaCult Festival.
“Kurbas in Kharkiv: Hello, This Is Radio 477!” focused on only one section of the Kharkiv exhibition: the recent discovery of the orchestral score to one of the shows produced at the Berezil Theater in Kharkiv headed by Les Kurbas.
The 1929 show was the first jazz revue in Ukraine. The first and third acts had an original score by Yuliy Meitus, while the second was composed of popular dance tunes arranged by Bohdan Kryzhaniwsky. The score, long assumed to have been destroyed, was recently discovered in an archive by one of the curators of the exhibition, Virlana Tkacz.
Showcased in Mukachiv were parts of the score, together with the printed sheet music for a song from the show and a contemporary video recording by Yara artist Mykola Shkaraban of the song “Kharkiv, Kharkiv” from the show.
The exhibition also included a recreated costume from “Hello, This Is Radio 477!” and a wall of photographs with the spectacular set for the show by Vadym Meller that had been recreated for the Kharkiv exhibition. In the center of the photographs was Larissa Babij’s article “ ‘Kurbas in Kharkiv’: Bringing Ukraine’s artistic heritage home” that had just appeared in The Ukrainian Weekly (May 6).
The SlobodaCult Festival was the third annual exchange festival in which a specific region of Ukraine shares its art and culture with another. Two years ago, the first festival – DonCult, featured art, music, theater and literature from the Donbas in Lviv, while last year’s GalytsiaCult featured art and culture from Lviv in Kharkiv.
Yara Arts Group is looking forward to expanding its museum exhibit on Kurbas to create a monumental exhibition at the Art Arsenal in Kyiv this fall.
Curators Tetiana Rudenko (left) and Virlana Tkacz at the exhibit “Kurbas in Kharkiv: Hello, This Is Radio 477!”