Sponsored by the Kharkiv Municipal Art Gallery
Founded in 2003/Biannual format since 2006
Participants: Young artists from CIS and East European countries

NON STOP art movement:
topicality, new speeds, contrast of events flashing by, pilot creative opportunities, breathtaking development of leading-edge information technology. A blitz-format marathon showing of competition projects combines all kinds of young artistic activities, including painting, graphics, photography and multimedia, sculpture, posters, prints, installations, objects, performances, and video-art.

Mission: development, support, and integration of the youth modern artistic creative work in Kharkiv, which defines the cultural and analytical potential of the country.

Goal: creating a Center of Modern Art in our city

Objectives:
o Provoking and stimulating young artists to project-based creative work;
o Identifying, supporting, and developing young talents;
o Experience-sharing with foreign artists and art institutions;
o Attracting artistic youth from different parts of Ukraine, CIS, and Europe for boosting cultural contacts and links within youth art movement;
o Youth artists' gaining the creative and project and exhibition experience;
o Raising the image and cultural level of the City of Kharkiv and Ukraine in general, by promoting and popularizing the modern young art;
o Creating a favorable environment for effective interaction between the representatives of different cultural groups (visual arts, literature, music, theater, cinema).


Festival activities:
-organizing the exhibition projects;
-holding a competition under the guidance of high-profile international jurors;
-conducting an awards ceremony;
-preparing and conducting out-of-competition satellite events;
-publishing an exhibition catalogue, CD, and information and advertisement materials;
-conducting master-classes of outstanding domestic and foreign artists, photographers, and designers;
-conducting a final conference of arts critics.

Festival participants:
young artists and authors (16 to 30 years old). Every participant in the competition program will have his or her own, nearly week-long personal exhibition arranged on the premises of the Art Gallery. The three top winners of the competition will be offered by the Gallery an opportunity to exhibit their projects as individual and groups events in Kyiv and other cities around the country

The jury: the leadings specialists in the area of contemporary visual arts, prominent artists, arts critics, and curators. The key criteria for evaluation of works presented to the competition include project thinking and professionalism in realizing the project idea.


Sponsor's team
The festival machine is driven by a sparse staff of the Municipal Gallery and young, active arts critics led by experienced teachers of the Kharkiv State Academy of Design and Arts, as well as a numerous team of volunteers.

Achievements:

- The dynamics of showing the exhibition projects is presented in a non-stop format. Displays in the Gallery are changed every four days during a month, with three to five art projects per one Festival shift. Thus, the 2006 Festival displayed 23 exhibition projects overall. Festival's most popular techniques and genres include photography, graphics, and video art.

- Extensive geography of participants: Ukraine (Kharkiv, Kyiv, Odesa, Lviv, Ivano-Frankivsk, Kherson, Crimea, Luhansk), Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, USA.

- Well-respected panel of jurors. Some of the previous jurors include: Serhiy Bratkov (Kharkiv-Moscow), Vlodko Kaufman (Lviv), Pavlo Makov (Kharkiv), Oleksandr Ridny (Kharkiv), Oleksandr Solovyov (Kyiv), Oleksiy Tytarenko (Kyiv), Tetyana Tumasyan (Kharkiv).

- A wide audience. According to estimates of the Organizing Committee, about 15,000 people have visited, saw or heard the Biennale events. The Kharkiv youth was also incredibly active not just as spectators, but as project helpers. Young people have offered hospitable volunteer accommodations for out-of-town participants, helped with organization and advertising of Festival's art events.

- Active participation of partners. Besides the Municipal Gallery premises, the Festival program has also made use of a number of partner venues, with various satellite events vigorously rolling through Bomer Movie Theater, Actor's House stage, RodDom and Churchill clubs.

- Successful delivery of a number of highly-desired professional training events, master classes for young artists, roundtables, and public discussion of projects with participation of young art critics, authors themselves, experienced masters of visual arts, journalists, and all art lovers. The master class conducted by a well-known artist, member of Festival's jury Pavlo Makov was a milestone event in 2006.

- Especially cool design and proprietary style, including catalogues, booklets, playbills, posters, flyers, invitation cards, and Festival programs (2003, 2004, 2006).

- Striking cultural satellite events. For instance, in the most recent Festival: two "sold out" concerts by 5'NIZZA band; a literary Non-Stop event with participation of Irena Karpa, Sofiya Andrukhovych, and a cult-status author Lyubko Deresh moderated by Serhiy Zhadan; Young Cinema Evening showing short feature films made by students from Kyiv (with Anastasiya Nikolayeva as curator); performances by a popular Theater 19, and other events.

Feedback:

Non Stop is becoming a systemic rather than one-time event. Notably, it is the only one of its kind in the country, taking into account its age group. Being systemic involves the Force of Repeated Strikes, Correction of those in reaching the target, the Weakness is in allowing it to be taken for granted, in diluting the strength for the sake of mass participation. In my opinion, the selection for the 2nd Non Stop has helped in identifying the movement leaders (very few and far apart, but they are here), full of energy mass-scale participation bordering on "crowd scene"; infatuation for photography's accessibility and reluctance to make an effort for something serious, deep, eternal, etc.
But my "old man's grumbling" notwithstanding, I want to write it in capitals (with emphasis on the second syllable): "Guys, Our Engine Is Steaming Forward."
O. Ridny

Non Stop lived
Non Stop lives
Non Stop will live

As years go by, I still fail to comprehend in what way this art, thoughts, feelings of somebody who is over 40 might be better than similar feelings and thoughts, let alone the so-called art, of those younger than 40, 30, 20 or 10. Indeed. So, why do I have to choose someone and reject someone else. The so-called wisdom, let alone talent, is not always an age-dependent quality. Therefore, girls and boys, do not wait for somebody to choose you. Life has already chosen you. So, follow your way, without looking back. If you are strong, you will always have a company of likely-minded people, age notwithstanding. As for everything else - you'll get it on the way.
P. Makov

The bright colors of summer spread around the city are shimmering in various hues at the Municipal Gallery. The Chernishevsky Street probably needs all road traffic to be blocked. Day in and day out, art lovers gather in unusual motley flocks just on the pavement. These are mostly young, bright-eyed, with hair in all hues, clothed in canvas mantles, strange knitted caps, and sneakers. It is not clear where they come from, but their destination is obvious. Its here, where exhibitions are changing like in kaleidoscope every four days. Avant-garde films are being shown. Here is the 5'NIZZA band, who could recently only be seen on TV, are playing live at the entrance. A guitar, two microphones. The virtuoso Babkin. San, who is conjuring sounds and images, not experienced anywhere else in the world, except, maybe, the coast of Jamaica. But that's a long way from here. And this is here and now. Moreover, its free.

In the Gallery itself, several displays are shown continuously and simultaneously. Even in the basement, which has on display the projects, which had to be exhibited just across the road, in a tent camp, which has never materialized. Sponsors (who will remain unnamed here) have not delivered. Still, there is place enough for all. Even for the musicians and fans of a sunny Dja Pre band.

Spectators filled the room to overflowing, sitting in aisles and on the floor below the screen. They responded riotously - clapping their hands, laughing, commenting out loud.
From a stream of funny, tragic, and philosophical stories, a clip by Oleksandr Anpilohov about uncontrollable speeds with a silent denouement stuck to memory. A documentary about today's young pioneers was also impressive, narrating about a transformation of the recent past into an absurd parody. The young artists and young spectators have found and understood each other. Of course, they have done this with the help of an indefatigable Muse, a patroness of avant-garde art, and Director of the Municipal Gallery, Tetyana Tumasyan.
A. Sokolynska



Festival's background:

Non Stop Media I - 2003:
Young authors from Kharkiv and Kyiv took part in the festival of projects, with 15 projects and actions, including:
The veterans of youth exhibition movement: Iryna Olenina and Yury Kruchak, Olena and Tetyana Polyashchenko, Viktoria and Vladyslav Yurashko, Rashid Orudzhev;
Gallery's standing partners in the Youth Affiliate program - Naprotiv Association of Young Artists: Bella Lohacheva, Stanislav Zvolsky, Volodymyr Radlinsky, Lyudmyla Sukhorukova, and others;
a team of graphics students guided by the Merited Artist of Ukraine, Professor Oleh Veklenko: Tetyana Borzunova, Maria Norazyan, Ilya Pavlov;
Students, students engaged in degree work, and graduates of other departments of the Kharkiv Academy, including those of easel painting and monumental and decorative painting; easel graphics and sculpture: Vadym Desyatnikov, Olena Holoborod'ko, Yulia Landina, and Anna Pushkaryova.
Participants also included even younger artists - Academy's freshmen. For example, Mikola Ridny, a freshman at the Department of Sculpture, whose exhibiting debut took place at the Cultural Heroes Festival of Modern Art.

Non Stop Media II - 2004:
Festivals' core program included 15 visual projects by young authors from Kharkiv, Moscow, and Kyiv, selected by professional jury out of 35 projects submitted for the competition. Festival's exhibition program embraced a marathon of projects, both individual and team ones, all presented in the Municipal Gallery, with regular change of displays in every two to three days.
The out-of-competition agenda included a multitude of actions, happenings, and art events of city's young art: performances by youth collectives of Theater 19, White Theater, and San-San Theater, musical bands, a literary soiree with prominent poets, including Serhiy Zhadan from Kharkiv, Andriy Kurkov from Kyiv, and others.

Non Stop Media III - 2006:
23 projects presented by young artists from Kharkiv, Kyiv, Odesa, Kherson, Luhansk, Moscow, Samara, and Beograd (Serbia) plus Festival's special project (Ukraine, Slovakia, USA) plus satellite actions.

The 2006 Festival hosted master classes by prominent artists who were also Jury members, roundtables, and public discussion of projects with participation of young art critics, authors, experienced masters of contemporary fine arts, journalists, and all art lovers. It is also important that the discussions were traditionally attended by young art theorists, art critics, students of the Kharkiv State Academy of Design and Arts, who will be defining the cultural and analytical scene in the country in the coming years.

As usual, NON STOP MEDIA does not limit its festival agenda to visual arts. The program offers diverse musical, literary, and theatrical actions. Performances by Theater 19, popular band 5'NIZZA, and prominent Ukrainian poet Serhiy Bazhan have already become traditional events for the Festival. A Young Ukrainian Cinema showing of short films made by students of the Kyiv Cinema and TV Institute have become an interesting innovation in this year's cultural agenda of the Festival.

We continue our search for partners, sponsors, and patrons of art.
We are looking forward to YOUR proposals and comments!