How Ivan Grechko Sought Beauty. Imagining the collection.

Promoting the culture of collecting and raising awareness of this topic among society through the formats of the exhibition project and the accompanying educational public program.

Relevance

Private collectorship is an integral part of the formation of the cultural capital at various global levels and the development of cultural consciousness. Collectors preserve works of art or used materials from loss or destruction, and can contribute to the restoration of artworks, the study of cultural traditions and art history, the implementation of cultural projects, etc. Most often, private collectors have the opportunity to collect integral collections of artworks, especially collections of pieces that are related to the local factor. In this way, the collector preserves part of the heritage of a particular community or region.

Nowadays, private collectors face a number of challenges, such as the availability of collections for wider audiences and for further scientific research. Therefore, bringing materials into the public space helps to discard the elitism of collections, promotes the interaction of different environments, and also attracts the local community to art. Public exhibitions generate curiosity about history and encourage its rethinking. It is also an important source of inspiration and integration of antiquity into contemporary art practices.

A positive example of working with private collections is the transfer of collections to the care of educational institutions. Universities are committed to preserving and sharing these collections with the public, making them available for research, exhibitions, and other cultural events. One of such collections donated to the educational institution (Ukrainian Catholic University) is the collection of the famous public figure and collector Ivan Hrechko. The collection includes hundreds of different items, such as paintings, old prints, postcards, books, traditional clothing, a private archive and other valuable items. It is an important source for studying the history of the region and the country. However, the collection of icons on glass and the collection of paintings of the 20th century require professional technical inspection by the restorer: part of the collection needs conservation for further proper preservation, and part of it requires restoration before the pieces could be used in the exhibition.

‍Why

The project intends to disseminate knowledge about the cultural heritage of Ukraine using private collections as reliable sources of memory, as well as to preserve the values of time, using them to popularize culture and history.

Focus Areas

• exhibition practices
• cultural heritage
• restoration
• collecting
• educational initiatives

Who For and With?

The project is targeting wide audiences, including collectors, researchers of cultural heritage, students, and Lviv residents who are interested in cultural heritage but do not have access to it because collections are unavailable during the war.

Project Impact

• presentation of private collections in the public space;
• initiating a discussion on the attitude towards private collectorship and the need to enhance it;
• establishing cooperation of public collectors with institutions that take care of collections.

The project is implemented by the Ukrainian Catholic University with the financial support from ЗMIN through the Grant Program 2023