As the opening event of 2005, we chose a wonderful project by two masters of art: Yevhen Svitlychnyi and Volodymyr Shaposhnikov, “Two Autobiographies”!

The works of two artists were exhibited in parallel, but this was not a joint project – these were two separate stories of the artists, presented as a first approximation, without any attempt to draw conclusions.

Volodymyr Shaposhnikov presented his paintings and a DVD product consisting of images created between 1996 and 2004. The artist used computer technologies to create a new digital product: the images (artistic documents) were displayed in the order in which they were created. Volodymyr also printed a number of drawings on a photocopier and colored them, which can be regarded as a return to his old method – the “ring of time”.

Yevhen Svitlychnyi, in turn, presented 16 picture-sheets that made up the “First Chapter”, conceived as part of a series of painting exhibitions entitled “The Great Handwritten Book”. The subject matter of the “First Chapter” was not based on a predetermined program but developed freely throughout the autumn, winter and spring of 2004-2005. The number of future chapters of the book was not strictly defined either, but depended on the development of the manuscript itself, on life.