On December 16, 2022, the public art festival “OD’ART” was opened.

The project curator is Andrii Liubov, a sculptor and founder of the public organization “Bloom” Art-Workshop.
Organizers: creative association “Public art”, PO “Art-Workshop “Bloom”.
The event was financed by the Stabilization Fund for Culture and Education, the Federal Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Germany and the Goethe-Institut.
Coordinator: Anastasia Pozhivatenko

The festival’s theme is “The past is afraid of art”.
Within the festival, Odesa’s monumental genre and temporary art objects were presented in two thematic directions: non-figurative sculpture and military sculpture.
7 sculptors: Oles Orekhov, Klim Stepanov, Oleg Novaev, Serhiy Bogolyubov, Larisa Subangulova, Viktor Tyblevych, and Serhii Konyakhin participated in the festival, and 14 art objects were presented.
The festival was held from December 16 to 18 at the address of Kosmonavta Komarova St, 8, in front of the building of the Palace of Children’s and Youth Creativity “White Acacia”.

The OD`ART festival is a platform of prospects that we see for implementation in Ukrainian cities.

Public art is an open modern art that provides an opportunity to express oneself in an open urban space, build a vector of communication, reflect mass needs and survive the trauma of war. Today, Ukrainians have updated their connection, and turned to a common source of identity – we are united by the same markers of aggression and joy. This allows us to lay the foundation for our common future and develop civil society.

During the festival, a plein air event was held with children from the school of artistic and aesthetic profile named after K. Kostandi, where students had the opportunity to show their creativity and fantasize on the topic “What sculptures would you like to see in the city of Odesa”. The plein air participants recreated their ideas in drawings and noted in which places in the city they would see these sculptures.

Also, within the framework of the festival, a conference was held on the topic: “Public art: interaction with people and the urban environment”

Three lectures were held:
“History of Sculpture” by Anna Misyun – Associate Professor of the Department of Cultural Studies of Odesa Polytechnic. The participants also immersed themselves in such an interesting topic as: “Tourist image of Odesa: what is expected of the city from the outside?”, which was introduced to us by Oksana Dolgopolova – Doctor of Philosophy.
Diana Fabian, co-coordinator of the project, gave a lecture: “Public art: How an art object changes the urban space”.

At the end, a round table was held on the topic “Public art as a tool for creating a comfortable urban environment”, moderated by Andrii Liubov – project curator and sculptor. Many different questions were raised about how, with the help of art, we can change our city for the better, and several interesting proposals were put forward.
The festival ended with a buffet in a creatively inspired setting.
But the plans already include the next public art festival for the fall of 2023.

The curator of this project, Andrii Liubov, commented on this event as follows:

The invincibility of soul and material
“May you live in interesting times”.
“Our country learned the wisdom of this saying. Since 2014, after the russian annexation of Crimea and the occupation of Donbas, Ukraine has been in a state of war. The war between the modern and the archaic takes place on battlefields and in people’s heads. The era of change has become global: the supranational has lost its functional institutions, and the world community could not prevent the killing of civilians in European
territory Ukrainian masters reflected their vision in the works presented at the public art festival “OD’ART”.
The topic of the exhibition, “Indestructibility of soul and material”, shows the viewer the experiences of a Ukrainian master’s life before the test. The exhibition of sculptures conveys the “Dream” of Ukrainians, made of metal, and the fury of the “Cossack” who chops off a chicken’s leg from the coat of arms of the aggressor and the trampling of small invaders on the back of a large turtle. The artists also immerse the viewer in the world of non-figurativeness, where everyone can come up with ideas and offer their interpretations of works, most of which were created without light and heating. The exhibition of Ukrainian art objects clearly shows the whole world that you cannot defeat the people who fight for their freedom and create the history of their future.”