Revolutionary Experimental Space

The R.E.P. group was established at the end of 2004 during the “Orange Revolution” in Ukraine. The group initially comprised 20 artists. Since 2006 the R.E.P. group’s members are Ksenia Hnylytska, Nikita Kadan, Volodymyr Kuznetsov, Zhanna Kadyrova, Lada Nakonechna, Lesia Khomenko.

Their work began with a series of actions united by the name “Intervention,” which appeared as a reaction to the politicized public space of “post-orange” Ukraine. The group’s subsequent activity has focused on long-term serial projects.

Ksenia Hnylytska, born in 1984 in Kyiv, Ukraine, lives and works there She graduated from the National Academy of Fine Art and Architecture in 2009. Hnylytska focuses on painting and works in series, varying from personal to social content. In her objects, she uses traditional techniques but perverts them. Both as a member of the R.E.P. group and individually, Hnylytska has participated in numerous Ukrainian and international exhibitions. She is currently part of the curatorial union Hudrada and a member of ISTM (Art Workers’ Self-defense Initiative).

Nikita Kadan, born in 1982, in Kyiv, Ukraine, lives and work there. In 2007 he graduated from the National Academy of Fine Art and Architecture in Kyiv, where he studied in the monumental painting department. He has been a member of the R.E.P. group since 2004, and became a co-founder of Hudrada (Artistic committee) curatorial and activist union in 2008. Kadan works with installation, graphics, painting, murals, and posters in urban space in interdisciplinary collaboration with architects, human rights activists and sociologists.

Zhanna Kadyrova, born in 1981 in Brovary, Ukraine, lives and works in Kyiv. She graduated from the sculpture department of the Shevchenko State Art School in Kyiv. She has been a member of the R.E.P. group since 2004, and a member of "Penoplast " (musical performance group) from 2006-2009. Kadyrova works with various media and has been creating sculptures in public space as well as in international exhibitions. She has won several art prizes, including the Kazimir Malevich Artist Award in 2012 and the PinchukArtPrize in 2013.

Lesia Khomenko, born in 1980 in Kyiv, Ukraine, lives and works there. She graduated from the National Academy of Fine Art and Architecture in 2004. She has been artist in residence at the Center for Contemporary Art at Kyiv-Mohyla Academy, Kyiv (2005-2006); the LIA (Leipzig International Art program, 2008). She is a co-founding member of the R.E.P. group and curatorial and activist union Hudrada. Paricipations in several solo and group exhibitions, including the Main Project of the 1st Kyiv Biennale of Contemporary Art Arsenale 2012 (Kyiv); National Art Museum of Ukraine (Kyiv); White Box Gallery (New York); MUMOK (Vienna); Zacheta Gallery (Warsaw). She was shortlisted for the PinchukArtPrize (2009 and 2011), Future Generation Art Prize (2012) and Kazimir Malevich Artist Award (2012).

Volodymyr Kuznetsov, born in 1976 in Lutsk, Ukraine. From 1999–2005 he studied at the Lviv Academy of Arts. He is a member of the Assembly for Culture in Ukraine (since 2014), co-founder and member of the curatorial union Hudrada (2008), CCCK – Center for Communication and Context Kyiv (2006) and the R.E.P. group. He participated in international artist in residence programs like "LIA" (Leipzig, Germany, 2008), "Het Blauwe Huis" (Amsterdam, Netherlands, 2007), "Residencies program for young artists" (Center for Contemporary Art, Kyiv, Ukraine, 2005) and in solo and group exhibitions in Ukraine and abroad. His works emphasize the intersection of private and public, the combination of different contexts, the unexpected meanings and aesthetics of primitive, seemingly everyday practices, the presence of the archaic in the present day. His subjects include the experience of memory and the construction of new meanings based on personal and collective experience.

Lada Nakonechna, born in 1981 in Dnipropetrovsk, Ukraine, lives and works in Kyiv. She graduated from the National Academy of Fine Art and Architecture in 2006. Most of her drawings develop into performances, while her photographs play the role of installations, constructing factitious apparatuses integrating the architecture of the spaces they occupy. Lada Nakonechna has participated in numerous international and Ukrainian exhibitions as part of the R.E.P. group, as well as individually. She also creates and curates exhibitions together with the curatorial and activist union Hudrada (Artistic committee), and is a member of ISTM (Art Workers’ Self-defense Initiative).