About SPP and its founders
School of Political Performance [SPP] is an independent movement of free art, which was set up in May 2017 by Maria Kulikovska – a Crimean-Ukrainian/Swedish artist, architect, and lecturer in exile. She is developing a platform together with an architect-engineer Uleg Vinnichenko. SPP includes performances, actions, exhibitions, non-violent gestures, hybrid, transdisciplinary and experimental forms of visual art.
The politico-military developments in Ukraine, which began in 2014, became the beginning of Kulikovska's action and performance activities. The first artist's action was an unauthorized performance «254», which was held on the steps of the Hermitage in Saint Petersburg, Russia. The other performances followed after that, but «254» became the project that initiated the School of Political Performance in the artist's subconscious. The idea of the movement of free art has evolved over the 2014–2016 years and was officially established in 2017.
The politico-military developments in Ukraine, which began in 2014, became the beginning of Kulikovska's action and performance activities. The first artist's action was an unauthorized performance «254», which was held on the steps of the Hermitage in Saint Petersburg, Russia. The other performances followed after that, but «254» became the project that initiated the School of Political Performance in the artist's subconscious. The idea of the movement of free art has evolved over the 2014–2016 years and was officially established in 2017.
About projects within the movement
«Migrating Parliament of Migrants: Raft CrimeA» was the first project within SPP. This project is the most extensive SPP's action until today. It's a long-term performance that began in Ukraine in 2016, and which was implemented with the support of the Goethe-Institut in Kyiv and Kyiv's Visual Culture Research Center, where, eventually, an exhibition «The Raft CrimeA: Trumps of Doom» was organized. In summer 2017, this exhibition became the special project of the Odesa Biennale of Contemporary Art in Ukraine. Immediately after the exhibition in Odesa, the social sculpture «Raft CrimeA» went to Barcelona, where it was presented in the public space of the city with the support of the Izolyatsia Arts Foundation and Swab Performance of Barcelona Contemporary Art Fair. About the same time, «Raft CrimeA» was presented as a part of Maria Kulikovska's lecture-performance at Liverpool John Moores University, England.
In May 2018, the same day the illegally constructed Crimean Bridge was open in Kerch, the «Raft CrimeA» landed on the North Sea opposite of the legendary Oresund Bridge in the Swedish city of Malmo. The action was a reminder of the events in 2015, when more than 100 000 refugees arrived in Malmo, after which the country's borders were closed a few months later and more than 80,000 people have been left between the borders. After the Malmo, «Raft CrimeА» ended up in the heart of Vienna, where the School of Political Performance organized an exhibition about the Migrating Parliament of Migrants at the High School of Media Arts. In March 2019, on the occasion of the 5th year of occupation of the Crimean Peninsula, the Raft Crimea arrived in Prague for the exhibition «The Raft CrimeA: Trumps of Doom» at Artivist_Lab Experimental Art Center, with the support of the Czech organization People in Need.
In 2019, SPP became one of the organizers and producers of the video of Kulikovska's performance «Let Me Say: It's Not Forgotten», which was shown during the queer festival in the HAU Theatre in Berlin, Germany. Throughout December 2019 – February 2020, the exhibition «Flowers» was held at Shcherbenko Art Centre in Kyiv. There were presented the artworks of Ukrainian and Swedish artists and SPP was the curator of this project.
SPP has no curators since the movement is in itself a curator and the various solo and group projects and exhibitions are organized under its auspices, including Garage33.Gallery-Shelter, which was founded by Maria Kulikovska and Uleg Vinnichenko.
In May 2018, the same day the illegally constructed Crimean Bridge was open in Kerch, the «Raft CrimeA» landed on the North Sea opposite of the legendary Oresund Bridge in the Swedish city of Malmo. The action was a reminder of the events in 2015, when more than 100 000 refugees arrived in Malmo, after which the country's borders were closed a few months later and more than 80,000 people have been left between the borders. After the Malmo, «Raft CrimeА» ended up in the heart of Vienna, where the School of Political Performance organized an exhibition about the Migrating Parliament of Migrants at the High School of Media Arts. In March 2019, on the occasion of the 5th year of occupation of the Crimean Peninsula, the Raft Crimea arrived in Prague for the exhibition «The Raft CrimeA: Trumps of Doom» at Artivist_Lab Experimental Art Center, with the support of the Czech organization People in Need.
In 2019, SPP became one of the organizers and producers of the video of Kulikovska's performance «Let Me Say: It's Not Forgotten», which was shown during the queer festival in the HAU Theatre in Berlin, Germany. Throughout December 2019 – February 2020, the exhibition «Flowers» was held at Shcherbenko Art Centre in Kyiv. There were presented the artworks of Ukrainian and Swedish artists and SPP was the curator of this project.
SPP has no curators since the movement is in itself a curator and the various solo and group projects and exhibitions are organized under its auspices, including Garage33.Gallery-Shelter, which was founded by Maria Kulikovska and Uleg Vinnichenko.
About aesthetics and ethics of SPP
School of Political Performance is the opportunity to make social and political statements. SPP is the opportunity for experimental visual, sound, and opinion-editorial works. Members of the movement share common ethical and aesthetic values. SPP is a movement of free expression and democracy. School's against censorship and has independent views and activities.
About membership
SPP is a platform for the artist: painters and sculptors, architects and performance artists, video makers and cinema directors, photographers and designers, philosophers and curators, art historians and culturologists, theoreticians and practitioners. It is a place for free people. Everybody, who shares the philosophy of SPP, can be a part of this movement.
About education platform of SPP
School of Political Performance is designed to popularise contemporary actual art, engage in art and science discourses, and create the opportunities and conditions for the practical and theoretical study of art.
