Roman Pyatkovka
Born in 1955, Kharkiv, Ukraine
ENG Roman Pyatkovka — representative of Kharkiv School of Photography. In 1972-1977 studied at the Department of Electroenergetics of Kharkiv Polytechnic Institute. In 1978-1981 attended the Higher Courses in Lighting Design of Kyiv State I. K. Karpenko-Kary Institute of Theatrical Art. For five years (1979–1984) worked as a Chief lighting designer of the Young Spectator’s Theater in Kharkiv. Got interested in photography in the early 1980s. At that period he was heavily influenced by such photographers of the older generation as Boris Mikhailov and Oleg Maliovany.
Conceptualist approach is central to his art, as the author is focused not on the aesthetics of a single image, but rather on the integrity of the message. The main topics of his body of work are sexuality and female nudity as the markers of the social situation, which reveals “sovietness” of the past and present. Became the winner of the Sony World Photography Awards in the Conceptual category for his Soviet Photo series (2013). Works as a senior lecturer at the Department of Media Communications of V.N. Karazin Kharkiv National University.
FR Roman Pyatkovka est un représentant de la deuxième génération l'École de photographie de Kharkiv. Comme beaucoup de ses membres il a une formation d’ingénieur. Il suit les cours à l’Institut d’art théâtral. Pendant cinq ans (1979-1984), Roman Pyatkovka travaille comme concepteur en chef de l’éclairage du théâtre de la Jeunesse de Kharkiv. Cette expérience induira une certaine théâtralité dans sa future pratique artistique. Il commence la photographie au début des années 1980. À cette époque, il est fortement influencé par les artistes de l'ancienne génération, Boris Mikhaïlov et Oleg Maliovany. Tout comme eux, il utilise les superpositions, l'appropriation d'archives anonymes, la combinaison d'images et de textes.
Les thèmes principaux de son travail sont la sexualité et la nudité féminine. Souvent performatives, les scènes des projets de Roman Pyatkovka se situent dans les espaces des appartements communautaires, invitant à réfléchir à la différence entre le privé et le public, à ce qui est sensuel et tabou dans la société soviétique et post-soviétique.
Il est lauréat de Sony World Photography Awards dans la catégorie de l'art conceptuel pour sa série Soviet Photo en 2013.
ENG Roman Pyatkovka — representative of Kharkiv School of Photography. In 1972-1977 studied at the Department of Electroenergetics of Kharkiv Polytechnic Institute. In 1978-1981 attended the Higher Courses in Lighting Design of Kyiv State I. K. Karpenko-Kary Institute of Theatrical Art. For five years (1979–1984) worked as a Chief lighting designer of the Young Spectator’s Theater in Kharkiv. Got interested in photography in the early 1980s. At that period he was heavily influenced by such photographers of the older generation as Boris Mikhailov and Oleg Maliovany.
Conceptualist approach is central to his art, as the author is focused not on the aesthetics of a single image, but rather on the integrity of the message. The main topics of his body of work are sexuality and female nudity as the markers of the social situation, which reveals “sovietness” of the past and present. Became the winner of the Sony World Photography Awards in the Conceptual category for his Soviet Photo series (2013). Works as a senior lecturer at the Department of Media Communications of V.N. Karazin Kharkiv National University.
FR Roman Pyatkovka est un représentant de la deuxième génération l'École de photographie de Kharkiv. Comme beaucoup de ses membres il a une formation d’ingénieur. Il suit les cours à l’Institut d’art théâtral. Pendant cinq ans (1979-1984), Roman Pyatkovka travaille comme concepteur en chef de l’éclairage du théâtre de la Jeunesse de Kharkiv. Cette expérience induira une certaine théâtralité dans sa future pratique artistique. Il commence la photographie au début des années 1980. À cette époque, il est fortement influencé par les artistes de l'ancienne génération, Boris Mikhaïlov et Oleg Maliovany. Tout comme eux, il utilise les superpositions, l'appropriation d'archives anonymes, la combinaison d'images et de textes.
Les thèmes principaux de son travail sont la sexualité et la nudité féminine. Souvent performatives, les scènes des projets de Roman Pyatkovka se situent dans les espaces des appartements communautaires, invitant à réfléchir à la différence entre le privé et le public, à ce qui est sensuel et tabou dans la société soviétique et post-soviétique.
Il est lauréat de Sony World Photography Awards dans la catégorie de l'art conceptuel pour sa série Soviet Photo en 2013.
Solo exhibitions:
2016 Soviet Photo II, Dadiani Fine Art, London, Great Britain
2015 Soviet Photo, Dadiani Fine Art, London, Great Britain
2010 Wrong Photography, Exit gallery, Odesa, Ukraine
2008 New Gamegallery, Tokio, Japan
1991 Ken Damy Museum of contemporary photography, Bresica, Italy
1993 Innensicht gallery, Nürnberg, Germany
1995 House of Artist, Kharkiv, Ukraine 1991, Fotografier Gallery, Göteborg, Sweden
1999 Kunstverein Nürnberg Kohlenhof, Nürnberg, Germany
1991 Roy Boyd gallery, Chicago, Illinois, USA 1991 Unge Kunstneres Samfund Galleri, Oslo, Norway
Group exhibitions (selection):
2024 Paris Photo 2024, sector Voices, Alexandra de Viveiros gallery, Grand Palais, Paris, France
Ukrainian Dreamers, Communal Galerie, Berlin, Germany, curator: Sergiy Lebedyndskyy
2023 Ukrainian Dreamers. Kharkiv School of Photography, Kunstmuseum, Wolfsburg, Germany
Kharkiv School of Photography — 50 years of artistic photography in Ukraine, Kreis gallery, Nurnberg, Germany
2022 Ukraine. Une donation contemporaine. Kharkiv, Kyiv, Odessa, Centre Pompidou, Paris, France
Paris Photo, Alexandra de Viveiros gallery, Paris, France
Body as a Propaganda, Negpos, Centre d’art et de photographie, by Réseau Diagonal and Odesa Photo Days, Nimes, France
Photo London, Alexandra de Viveiros gallery, London, UK
Once upon the war in KHARKIV, Alexandra de Viveiros gallery, Paris, France
2021 Author in Game, curators: Sergiy Lebedynskyy, Nadiia Kovalchuk and Oleksandra Osadcha, Yermilov Centre, Kharkiv, UkraineParis Photo 2024
Sensitivity. Contemporary Ukrainian Photography, Mystetskyi Arsenal, Kyiv, Ukraine
2020 Artificial Pain, Znaki Czasu Art Center, Torun, Poland
Gewendet – 5 Positionen Fotografie, Stadtgalerie Brunsbüttel, Brunsbüttel, Germany
2019 The Body of Propaganda, Latvian Museum o Photography, Riga, Latvia
Storytelling from Kharkiv: Singular Voices, galerie Alexandra de Viveiros, curator Nadiia Kovalchuk, Paris, France
Crossing lines, Pinchuk Art Centre, Kyiv, Ukraine, curators: Björn Geldhof, Martin Kiefer, Alicia Knock
Palette of Pain, as a part of Tbilisi Art Fair 2019, Expo Georgia, Tbilisi, Georgia
UPHA Made in Ukraine, AKT art space, Kyiv, Ukraine
Kharkiv school of photography from Grynovs’ family collection, Mironova Foundation gallery, Kyiv, Ukraine
2017 City of KhA. Avant-garde Kharkiv: Research Project, National Art Museum, Kyiv, Ukraine
Research Platform: Anonymous Society, Pinchuk Art Centre, Kyiv, Ukraine
Ukrainian Archetype, as a part of Photo Kyiv 2017, Toronto-Kyiv, Kyiv, Ukraine
2016 A Take on Vintage Photography, Vitas Luckus Photography Centre, Šiauliai, Lithuania 2016 The Freedom of the Past, Hungarian House of Photography Mai Mano House, Budapest, Hungary
2014 Premonition: Ukrainian Art Now, Saatchi gallery, London, Great Britain 2014 Probability Theory, as a part of the VII All Ukrainian Platform “New Directions”, Modern Art Research Institute of Ukrainian Academy of Arts, Kyiv, Ukraine
2013 Act of Disobedience. Body as a Protest in Kharkiv Photography of 1970s-2010s, Lumiere brothers Center for Photography, Moscow, Russia NordArt 2013, Büdelsdorf, Germany Sony World Photography Awards 2013 show, Somerset House, London, Great Britain
2012 Social Euphory, as a part of the V All Ukrainian Platform “New Directions”, Modern Art Research Institute of Ukrainian Academy of Arts, Kyiv, Ukraine
ARTisARTisART, Moscow Museum of Modern Art, Moscow, Russia.
2011 11th European festival of nude photography. Regards sur le corps, L’espace Van Gogh, Arles, France The Drawing lessons: Ukrainian Photography, as a part of International Photography Festival PIP, Pingyao, China
2010 If, Museum of Contemporary Art PERMM, Perm, Russia.
1998 Les Rencontres d’Arles, Arles, France
1995 Contemporary Russian Photography – Boris Savelev, Lyaiya Kuznetsova, Roman Pyatkovka, Francisco Infante, Tanja Liebermann, Andrei Bezoukiadnikov, Yuri Tschernischov and Vadim Gippenreiter, Tampa Museum of Art, Florida, USA
1991 Photomanifesto: contemporary photography in the USSR, Baltimore Museum of Art, Baltimore, USA
1990 Op-positions: Commitment and Cultural Identity in Contemporary Photography, as a part of II International Biennale of Photography, Center for photography, Rotterdam, Netherlands
1989 Fotostroika, New York, USA
1988 New Soviet Photography, a touring show, Finland, Sweden, Denmark
1987 F-87, Palace of Students of Kharkiv Polytechnic Institute, Kharkiv, USSR
Collections (selection):
Centre Pompidou, Paris, France
Museum of Kharkiv School of Photography (MOKSOP), Kharkiv, Ukraine
Museum of Ken Damy, Bresha, Italy
The Navigator Foundation, Boston, USA
ARTOTHEK, Nürnberg, Germany
Cincinnati Art Museum, Cincinnati, USA
Multimedia Art Museum, Moscow, RF
National Center for Contemporary Arts (NCCA), Moscow, RF
2016 Soviet Photo II, Dadiani Fine Art, London, Great Britain
2015 Soviet Photo, Dadiani Fine Art, London, Great Britain
2010 Wrong Photography, Exit gallery, Odesa, Ukraine
2008 New Gamegallery, Tokio, Japan
1991 Ken Damy Museum of contemporary photography, Bresica, Italy
1993 Innensicht gallery, Nürnberg, Germany
1995 House of Artist, Kharkiv, Ukraine 1991, Fotografier Gallery, Göteborg, Sweden
1999 Kunstverein Nürnberg Kohlenhof, Nürnberg, Germany
1991 Roy Boyd gallery, Chicago, Illinois, USA 1991 Unge Kunstneres Samfund Galleri, Oslo, Norway
Group exhibitions (selection):
2024 Paris Photo 2024, sector Voices, Alexandra de Viveiros gallery, Grand Palais, Paris, France
Ukrainian Dreamers, Communal Galerie, Berlin, Germany, curator: Sergiy Lebedyndskyy
2023 Ukrainian Dreamers. Kharkiv School of Photography, Kunstmuseum, Wolfsburg, Germany
Kharkiv School of Photography — 50 years of artistic photography in Ukraine, Kreis gallery, Nurnberg, Germany
2022 Ukraine. Une donation contemporaine. Kharkiv, Kyiv, Odessa, Centre Pompidou, Paris, France
Paris Photo, Alexandra de Viveiros gallery, Paris, France
Body as a Propaganda, Negpos, Centre d’art et de photographie, by Réseau Diagonal and Odesa Photo Days, Nimes, France
Photo London, Alexandra de Viveiros gallery, London, UK
Once upon the war in KHARKIV, Alexandra de Viveiros gallery, Paris, France
2021 Author in Game, curators: Sergiy Lebedynskyy, Nadiia Kovalchuk and Oleksandra Osadcha, Yermilov Centre, Kharkiv, UkraineParis Photo 2024
Sensitivity. Contemporary Ukrainian Photography, Mystetskyi Arsenal, Kyiv, Ukraine
2020 Artificial Pain, Znaki Czasu Art Center, Torun, Poland
Gewendet – 5 Positionen Fotografie, Stadtgalerie Brunsbüttel, Brunsbüttel, Germany
2019 The Body of Propaganda, Latvian Museum o Photography, Riga, Latvia
Storytelling from Kharkiv: Singular Voices, galerie Alexandra de Viveiros, curator Nadiia Kovalchuk, Paris, France
Crossing lines, Pinchuk Art Centre, Kyiv, Ukraine, curators: Björn Geldhof, Martin Kiefer, Alicia Knock
Palette of Pain, as a part of Tbilisi Art Fair 2019, Expo Georgia, Tbilisi, Georgia
UPHA Made in Ukraine, AKT art space, Kyiv, Ukraine
Kharkiv school of photography from Grynovs’ family collection, Mironova Foundation gallery, Kyiv, Ukraine
2017 City of KhA. Avant-garde Kharkiv: Research Project, National Art Museum, Kyiv, Ukraine
Research Platform: Anonymous Society, Pinchuk Art Centre, Kyiv, Ukraine
Ukrainian Archetype, as a part of Photo Kyiv 2017, Toronto-Kyiv, Kyiv, Ukraine
2016 A Take on Vintage Photography, Vitas Luckus Photography Centre, Šiauliai, Lithuania 2016 The Freedom of the Past, Hungarian House of Photography Mai Mano House, Budapest, Hungary
2014 Premonition: Ukrainian Art Now, Saatchi gallery, London, Great Britain 2014 Probability Theory, as a part of the VII All Ukrainian Platform “New Directions”, Modern Art Research Institute of Ukrainian Academy of Arts, Kyiv, Ukraine
2013 Act of Disobedience. Body as a Protest in Kharkiv Photography of 1970s-2010s, Lumiere brothers Center for Photography, Moscow, Russia NordArt 2013, Büdelsdorf, Germany Sony World Photography Awards 2013 show, Somerset House, London, Great Britain
2012 Social Euphory, as a part of the V All Ukrainian Platform “New Directions”, Modern Art Research Institute of Ukrainian Academy of Arts, Kyiv, Ukraine
ARTisARTisART, Moscow Museum of Modern Art, Moscow, Russia.
2011 11th European festival of nude photography. Regards sur le corps, L’espace Van Gogh, Arles, France The Drawing lessons: Ukrainian Photography, as a part of International Photography Festival PIP, Pingyao, China
2010 If, Museum of Contemporary Art PERMM, Perm, Russia.
1998 Les Rencontres d’Arles, Arles, France
1995 Contemporary Russian Photography – Boris Savelev, Lyaiya Kuznetsova, Roman Pyatkovka, Francisco Infante, Tanja Liebermann, Andrei Bezoukiadnikov, Yuri Tschernischov and Vadim Gippenreiter, Tampa Museum of Art, Florida, USA
1991 Photomanifesto: contemporary photography in the USSR, Baltimore Museum of Art, Baltimore, USA
1990 Op-positions: Commitment and Cultural Identity in Contemporary Photography, as a part of II International Biennale of Photography, Center for photography, Rotterdam, Netherlands
1989 Fotostroika, New York, USA
1988 New Soviet Photography, a touring show, Finland, Sweden, Denmark
1987 F-87, Palace of Students of Kharkiv Polytechnic Institute, Kharkiv, USSR
Collections (selection):
Centre Pompidou, Paris, France
Museum of Kharkiv School of Photography (MOKSOP), Kharkiv, Ukraine
Museum of Ken Damy, Bresha, Italy
The Navigator Foundation, Boston, USA
ARTOTHEK, Nürnberg, Germany
Cincinnati Art Museum, Cincinnati, USA
Multimedia Art Museum, Moscow, RF
National Center for Contemporary Arts (NCCA), Moscow, RF
Publications and press (selection):
Paris Photo : un retour en grande pompe au Grand Palais, The Art Newspaper, France, Zoé Isle de Beauchaine, 7 November, 2024 pdf
Ironische Prise, subtiler Trotz. Experimentell ist die Fotografie der Chargier Schule, wie das Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg zeigt., taz, Germany, Oct 2023
Ukraine : préserver la mémoire, lutter pour la liberté, Fish Eye Magazine, Constanza Spina, 3 March 2023
Paris Photo. 25 ans le bel âge !, Le Quotidien de l'art, Nov 2022
Les Insolites Photographes de Kharkiv, M Le Monde Magazine, Roxana Azimi, Sept 2022
Photo London, une diversité de regards sur l’Ukraine, Le Monde, Roxana Azimi, May 13, 2022
The Kharkiv School of Photography – in pictures, The Guardian, May 13, 2022
Leap of the imagination: the best of Photo London 2022, The Guardian, Mee-Lai Stone, May 12, 2022
Photo London 2022. Top five fair highlights. Selected by Alessandro Merola, 1000 Words, May 11, 2022
Soviet and contemporary Ukranian art, Centre Pompidou, France, The Art Newspaper, April 2021
Galerie Alexandra de Viveiros : 6 artistes rejoignent la collection du Centre Pompidou, L'Oeil de la Photographie, France, 2021
PHROOM, Roman Pyatkovka, A Field Study of Communal Body, by Oleksandra Osadcha, 2020
Sony World Photography Awards L'Iris d'Or and competition winners revealed, The Telegraph, UK, 25 April 2013
IMAGE (No 2 - 1988) Helsenki, Finland
APERTURE (No 116 - Fall 1989) New York, USA
FOTO. Special URSS (No 262 - 1989) Paris, France
Prat (No 2 - 1990) Stockholm, Sweden
Fotografi fran Harkov i Ukraina, CCCR (1990) Stockholm, Sweden
Bibliography:
Nadiia Bernard Kovalchuk: Kharkiv School of Photography, Game against Apparatus, editor: Museum of Kharkiv School of Photography, Ukraine, 2020
Roman Pyatkovka: Meteoprognoz, publisher: Red Zet, Ukraine, 2018
Roman Pyatkovka: You wait, publisher: Red Zet, Ukraine, 2017
Roman Pyatkovka: Apartment 20, publisher: Artbook, Ukraine, 2017
Roman Pyatkovka: Zine Collection N°5: Scheme, publisher: Éditions Bessard, France, 2012
Artist's portfolio: pdf
Paris Photo : un retour en grande pompe au Grand Palais, The Art Newspaper, France, Zoé Isle de Beauchaine, 7 November, 2024 pdf
Ironische Prise, subtiler Trotz. Experimentell ist die Fotografie der Chargier Schule, wie das Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg zeigt., taz, Germany, Oct 2023
Ukraine : préserver la mémoire, lutter pour la liberté, Fish Eye Magazine, Constanza Spina, 3 March 2023
Paris Photo. 25 ans le bel âge !, Le Quotidien de l'art, Nov 2022
Les Insolites Photographes de Kharkiv, M Le Monde Magazine, Roxana Azimi, Sept 2022
Photo London, une diversité de regards sur l’Ukraine, Le Monde, Roxana Azimi, May 13, 2022
The Kharkiv School of Photography – in pictures, The Guardian, May 13, 2022
Leap of the imagination: the best of Photo London 2022, The Guardian, Mee-Lai Stone, May 12, 2022
Photo London 2022. Top five fair highlights. Selected by Alessandro Merola, 1000 Words, May 11, 2022
Soviet and contemporary Ukranian art, Centre Pompidou, France, The Art Newspaper, April 2021
Galerie Alexandra de Viveiros : 6 artistes rejoignent la collection du Centre Pompidou, L'Oeil de la Photographie, France, 2021
PHROOM, Roman Pyatkovka, A Field Study of Communal Body, by Oleksandra Osadcha, 2020
Sony World Photography Awards L'Iris d'Or and competition winners revealed, The Telegraph, UK, 25 April 2013
IMAGE (No 2 - 1988) Helsenki, Finland
APERTURE (No 116 - Fall 1989) New York, USA
FOTO. Special URSS (No 262 - 1989) Paris, France
Prat (No 2 - 1990) Stockholm, Sweden
Fotografi fran Harkov i Ukraina, CCCR (1990) Stockholm, Sweden
Bibliography:
Nadiia Bernard Kovalchuk: Kharkiv School of Photography, Game against Apparatus, editor: Museum of Kharkiv School of Photography, Ukraine, 2020
Roman Pyatkovka: Meteoprognoz, publisher: Red Zet, Ukraine, 2018
Roman Pyatkovka: You wait, publisher: Red Zet, Ukraine, 2017
Roman Pyatkovka: Apartment 20, publisher: Artbook, Ukraine, 2017
Roman Pyatkovka: Zine Collection N°5: Scheme, publisher: Éditions Bessard, France, 2012
Artist's portfolio: pdf