Author: Ulrike Wiedensohler

I’m so despaired. I want to accompany my human parents on a journey from Berlin to Turin and Verona.
My parents apologized and said I’ve to cross the Alps by myself from Bern to Turin, walking.
The German Bahn treats me as an unaccompanied child (why?).
My parents have an online booking for the whole journey. For me this is not possible. They had to buy my fares offline. But this works only for German trains from Berlin to Bern and back from Verona to Berlin.
So I am thrown out in Bern and have to walk alone across the Alps.
Can you help me?
My name is Wiki (like Wikimedia)

Today, we would like to introduce another new artist whose artwork is exhibited and for sale at the YOURARTBEAT Market. For us it is important that you also get to know the person behind the artworks. Let’s welcome Kate Bortsova today! First of all, Kate shares with us that she is very impressed “by the statement of Fyodor Dostoevsky: Beauty will save the World.” This is because in her art she always tries to follow, implement and realize this statement. Furthermore, Kate’s art is also often described by viewers as very emotional. “I think that this adjective is the most accurate description of my work,” says Kate. But all this would not work without energy – for her the main drive for creative work. Moreover, she wants to show with her art “what it means to me, how I see reality”. How does she see reality? “One of the main thesis of my projects is that in the modern world not everything is actually what we think, many things have different meanings; and sometimes it’s difficult to understand the true essence of things now”, Kate Bortsova explains. For her, art means, among other things, the confrontation between life and aesthetics. She describes culture as “all types and genres of art”, because they all have “their influence on the disclosure of painful topics for society.” But art and culture mean much more to her. If you want to find out even more about it, read the full interview. Here she talks about her career and how she handles her creative process. She also talks about what inspires her and how digital art affects her. Welcome Kate Bortsova on the YOURARTBEAT blog. Have fun reading!

1. Introduce yourself and also the project, with which you had applied to YOURARTBEAT.
I as an artist believe that keeping up with ephemera fashion shall not serve as a factor of art work modernity. Let me remind you that the way of human civilization development has a form of curl. Everything new is a well-forgotten old one but at the new curve of civilization.
In the modern multipolar and multinational world, art and art objects got dissolved in the routine of human life. After Marcel Duchamp created a ‘readymade’ art in the 1940’s we may be sure to find art objects around us without any force. But in order to make an art object of a simple spoon or staple there shall be need of a creator – a man with endless fantasy, who sees not a dirt but a star in a pool, as Immanuel Kant said. Any person may get technical skills and practice of creating a picture by means of hard work. But not everyone may fill their work with philosophic sense, with such images which would enchant audience for ages. Now the only factor of art modernity is that it is present in art galleries and in the Internet.

2. Since when are you artistically (professionally) active?
I often call myself “a student forever” pour rire, because I started to study professionally with entering Kharkov State Art School. After Kharkov State Art School I studied at Kharkov State Art College, where was my first personal exhibition. A statement that human shall study and develop herself for a whole life impresses me very much. I consider that a talented person is obliged to find out something new throughout her life, to reach more new tops. If she ceases to develop herself, she will have nothing more to say to the audience by means of her works. At the present moment, I am expanding my conception of the theoretical aspect of art and therefore I harmonize all the aspects of the talented person of mine. Another aspect of this issue is a conception and understanding of academic education, a need therein. I have already stated that anyone may learn some technical skills. But you should understand the way of application thereof. All the great artists got academic education. Any Avant-garde, non-figurative work of art is based on academic practice, for example, Pablo Picasso’s works.
Of course in the process of my education both at Kharkov State Art College and at Kharkov State Academy of Design and Fine Arts, I often faced the pressure of teachers who often tried to impose their own vision and their own point of view. Certainly, the personality of teachers play a large role in creating a young talent. A teacher may either support and give a push start, or prevent any desire to create masterpieces, depending on circumstances. I have the nature of a struggler, so even the most negative comments on my works could not lead me astray from the way I chose. Despite the negative aspects which are typical of academic education, I still believe that it is necessary for each artist. But an artist shall not think that at the academy she would learn how to create real masterpieces. Throughout the whole life, a talented person shall pass a difficult and even a suffering way which may be related either to external events or to comprehension of the individual self. An artist creates his own image of the world and therefore it correlates his imaginations with the common laws of universe. We know that each way shall lead to the temple but the temple may be erected inside the human’s soul.

3. Where do your ideas come from or what inspires you?
My creative process has not so many stages and technical peculiarities. Creation of a picture shall start, of course, from the image of potential work set inside my brain. Images occur in my imagination very often. It can be either imposed by impressions from a movie, a theater play I saw or by simple communication with another person. Therefore, I often face an opinion that my works are often based on any work of literature, but it is not right.
The image of a potential picture will not leave my imagination until it is depicted on canvas or paper. Sometimes, I have no time for creative works due to my large involvement in other industries. But the idea of a new picture does not leave me and I am eager to set aside some time for implementation thereof in real life.
No doubt, works of any artists are totally autobiographic. It is felt in perception of life too, either in inspiration by certain landscapes, impression from journeys or inimitable memories. Often people depicted in paintings have features similar to their author, so in my case, too. Among my works there are many self-portraits and sometimes characters of my portraits acquire my features. It often occurs at the subconscious level. But I do not feel it. Only third persons can see it.

4. How do you work on your creation processes?
After the general idea of a new picture appears in my mind I develop all the details thereof inwardly. I make a decision regarding the technique and style of my further work, regarding the best compositional conception. Sometimes after thorough it thinking over I start to make a small sketch, but I do not do it always. My experience showed that the more detailed image of a picture is developed in my mind, the less time and efforts I need for implementation thereof. Now, I have even spontaneous works. In such cases, I take a canvas immediately and start to paint without thinking of the result. When I studied at Kharkov State Art College, I made even a monumental painting (4 m x 2.5 m) devoted to the musician Frank Zappa without any sketches or concepts of the final result.
But I also dislike to create one work for a long time. In cases when the work has not the same image as it intended to have initially, you should not stop doing it, but only complete it and put it aside. Maybe in a few months or even years it would have another vision. But anyway you should not remake it again and again with wasting a lot of time and force.

5. What advantages do you personally see in digital art?
Now, we cannot deny that digital technologies were implemented in our life and, of course, in art. I think that now there are no more artists who do not use new technologies in their works by any means. I have already said I am a graphic-artist by vocation. No modern graphic-artist can cope without computer technologies, either in book or poster design.
One of my scopes of work is poster graphics. Therefore, I often use computer techniques. Moreover, I often make sketches to my paintings and graphics by means of computer.
At the beginning of our conversation I have already said that at the modern stage of art development everything may be an art object. So we cannot split art and technology because nowadays artists use more and more new technological methods. I think that neither art absorbed science, nor vice versa, it is only interpenetration. As the result we got new trends both in art and in science. The fact is that civilization always goes forward, it must develop itself. Therefore, art must develop itself, too. And it is impossible to develop art without the newest technologies.

6. What do you want to express with your art, or does it change with each project? Or, for example, is there always a consistent main element/theme?
When I work I do not think whether someone will like my work and will buy it. I get delighted by the process itself, by the stages of creating a picture, by the way of implementation of my virtual idea. I cannot detach any certain image of the admirer of my works. I think everyone may find something close thereto among my works. With the help of my works I want to formulate what it means to me, how I see reality. One of the main thesis of my projects is that in the modern world not everything is actually what we think, many things have different meanings; and sometimes it is difficult to understand the true essence of things now. I consider that a talented person is obliged to find out something new throughout her life, to reach more new tops. If she ceases to develop herself she will have nothing more to say to the audience by means of her works.

7. What does “art” in general mean to you?
I think that art means confrontation between life and aesthetics. It is a hard struggle for both of them. And the understanding of art is one of the main artist’s working specialties. Regarding definition of art modernity I do not divide art works into mainstream, underground, and classics. It is important for me that art masterpieces should have a response in the audience’s soul. Pictures with such quality will be always up-to-date. Maybe my point of view was influenced by mental peculiarities of culture which brought me up, as well as the fact that in Ukraine art culture faced the newest trends only a few dozen years ago and now is trying to catch up with trends of the Western European art market. Therefore, in our country art has been developing in another way than in Western countries.

8. What does “culture” mean to you?
All types and genres of art have their influence on the disclosure of painful topics for society. However, at each stage of the development of civilization, each of the art forms had a greater or lesser power of influence. So in the 20th century, especially in the middle of it, music became the voice of protest and freedom, however, the visual arts did not lag behind. Now with the development of the Internet and social networks, where the “picture” plays an important role, visual art has received a great opportunity to express and denounce the vices of everyday life.

Not sure what Your Art Beat Market is exactly? YOURARTBEAT Market is a digital marketplace dedicated exclusively to art trading, interactions and transactions between buyers and sellers. YOURARTBEAT intentionally opens the market to newer and unconventional visuals and digital art.

On September 11 & 12, 2021, artspace Bremerhaven took place for the 4^th time,  opening its doors for artists of all disciplines. The art festival has turned streets, workshops, galleries, hallways, ateliers, apartments, commercial spaces and vacancies into stages, canvases, and spaces for artistic resonations. 

Artspace Bremerhaven identifies itself as a voyage of discovery for the visitors through interdisciplinary moments of art and a kaleidoscope of border crossings, conventional disruptions and new born ideas.

Kateryna Bortsova, one of the artists of YOUR ART BEAT, showed her project WAY TO MY HEART. The concept of her project relates directly to travel and self-actualization in a globalized world. Kateryna Bortsova referred to the problems arising in connection with the closure of the borders due to the pandemic; how people seek their place in the global world when life suddenly narrows to the same country or even region. She wants to draw the viewer’s attention to a paradox: offline the world is closed and limited – online unlimited openness of content and links that are clearly manifested during a pandemic. In addition to the pandemic, there is the unsolved problem of migration, which has worsened worldwide.

Technically, the work is done with different colors, ink on used maps.

First of all – why?

Well, I think that WE, MANKIND, at the very moment are taking a further big and decisive step into an unknown and different terrain. This new world we are already in, is signified by a process of acceleration, WE have not experienced before. Digitization, Globalization as well as Climate Change are metaphors to describe that huge transformation taking place right now. The Covid-19-Pandemic, that now hits, frightens, and moves all of us on this planet, forces the society and each and every one of us into new operational modes. And WE need to manage that somehow. I think that we are obliged to look for good tools and results – so that all members of MANKIND have a fair chance to reach a good life here on this only planet we have.

And Education?

Education is a very valid and resourceful path, a powerful tool, a good means to that end. Yet it has to be education for the 21t Century. Education has to leave at least some of its traditional ways and structures behind. The roads to education will and have to be manifold. Informal learning and knowledge and skills gathering will be more important – many of us do have knowledge beyond the statement of whatever kind of standardized and regulated proof. Here, a great potential is hidden to react in a flexible way, to open up chances and act less bureaucratic, to mainly foster self efficacy and self-responsibility.

Really? Why?

Because the challenges ahead are different from yesterday’s. All involved – instructors, industry, governments, students, parents, … – need to think, to cooperate and give each other feedback on what is really needed and helpful. The old structures (seen form a German perspective) of primary, secondary and tertiary levels of education are worn out. Lifelong learning, blending online and offline learning as Blended Learning, looking for skills rather than solely theoretical knowledge, and lots of other issues are changing education along with the needs and wants of all its diverse stakeholders. Plus, there are the chances, digitization offers, applying it to education – and the shortcomings of it. This means Education for the 21st Century: a profound response to the changes and challenges ahead. Communication, Creativity, Collaboration, Cultural Awareness (or the local and trans-cultural), and Critical Thinking plus Acting accordingly (thus turning knowledge into a competency or skill) are key factors in this approach.

And SABAA?

Well. SABAA, I hope, can play a role as a provider of ideas, concepts, and solutions or products on the forefront of education; especially in close contact with the creative industries It can act as a moderator and an applicant bringing together money and ideas and people. It can produce and challenge.

So, why Sub-Saharan Africa?

Well. Because relevant education is needed very direly in Sub-Saharan Africa. Because good education can change a lot. Because the intelligent and hardworking people deserve a fair chance. Because reciprocity means a balance of give and take. So Germany, Europe, in return will gain; MANKIND can gain.

Is that all?

No – Sub-Saharan Africa is a fascinating place to me and it seems to be a terroir of the future. It sometimes feels, that Europe is a terrain of a certain past. And all the people living in Sub-Sahara Africa – with all those diverse and different cultures existing on this magnificent continent – are to be reckoned with. „Africa“ is one of the spots where the future is happening. As the cradle of MANKIND, it stands for the start-up of human culture and I am looking forward to its further contributions, big and small.

No personal connection?

Oh yes – when I was an exchange student, 21 years old, at a university in Illinois, USA, I lived in International House. There you shared a room with two other males, and these were a small chap from Ghana and a big guy from Nigeria. We had a good time for one year and I learned a lot about these countries, Africa, and intercultural issues. Another good friend of mine at theatre and later was South-African, and again I learned a lot from this kind man. So my interest was kept alive by encounters with fine people. And the music. I encountered some African music when I was 16 years, and from that time on I loved it. The sounds, the rhythms, the polyphonic voices. From Nigerian High-Life music to Sudanese wedding music to the Super Rail Band of the Buffet Hotel del la Gare de Bamako, Mali, to Hugh Masekela or Dollar Brand, to Le Zagazougou or Baaba Maal and electronic dance music from Africa: I love it.

I understand that SABAA is not about donations?

Yes and no. SABAA, being a non-profit organization, will take donations .And no: donations with out strategy, plan, and working at eye-level plus reciprocity don´t solve anything. Sustainability (meaning durability, efficiency, and watching out for circular economy solution and zero-waste to me) is an important factor. Too many non-sustainable projects just end when the easy flow and intake of money dries up. SABAA is a non-profit company, acquiring and making money to then distribute these means to relevant causes. Pure donations I believe, only lead to shame and dependance. For both involved: the taker and the giver. Social Business solutions are on SABAA´s mind, they are a better way to solve problems. Those who profit from SABAA`s offers should – right sway, or in their time when they profit – give back. That´s the deal and contract. I see it like an inter-generational and inter-continental contract: if you profit, give back. That applies to both sides.

OPEN CALL for the SABAA ART AWARDS 2021

# e n s e m b l e

PANDEMIC-VOICES AND VIEWS FROM SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA

A P P L Y  N O W

A Sabaa.education Foundation-Berlin Initiative in partnership with Fashviart, UK & Lagos-Paris-Art