The par­ents of artists or cura­tors often do not under­stand what exactly their chil­dren do and why they ded­i­cate them­selves to such an unspec­i­fied, unprof­itable and lack­ing in prospects occu­pa­tion as con­tem­po­rary art, per­for­mance or exper­i­men­tal the­atre. For such people prac­tic­ing art becomes a sort of per­ma­nent nego­ti­a­tion, a field that needs to be worked out through action, inter­pre­ta­tion and the cre­ation of added value. The Ukrain­ian artist Alevtina Kakhidze, wife of engi­neer and devel­oper Volodymyr Babyuk has led such an every­day nego­ti­a­tion with her hus­band for the last 13 years. Her fre­quent for­eign trav­els and sojourns at artis­tic res­i­den­cies were becom­ing unbear­able for Vova: so they mutu­ally decided to create a centre for artis­tic res­i­den­cies in the garden of their big house on the out­skirts of Kiev. "Now 'the world' will come to you" - sug­gested her hus­band. There are hardly any objects in their new home: the chairs by Philippe Starck or Cindy Scherman's pho­tographs have been replaced with copies sketched by the artist. Recently Alevtina and Vova have signed a marital con­tract that resolves the divi­sion of wealth in the event of their divorce. Sub­ject to it the huge house with three bed­rooms and three bath­rooms, all its fur­nish­ings, two cars and four dogs turn out to be worth less than the artist's set of draw­ings depict­ing objects of reverie: luxury goods, antiques and works of art - worth as much as their pro­to­types. In her staged lec­ture, Alevtina will present the his­tory of her mar­riage and many year long nego­ti­at­ing with her hus­band regard­ing the impor­tance and inter­pre­ta­tion of art and the cre­ation of added value.

Alevtina Kakhidze, born 1973

Ukrain­ian artist, she is cur­rently par­tic­i­pat­ing in an artis­tic sojourn within the a-i-r lab­o­ra­tory pro­gram at the Centre for Con­tem­po­rary Art in Warsaw. She has pre­sented her works at (among others): IASPIS in Stock­holm, the Centre for Con­tem­po­rary Art in Kiev, the National Museum in Moscow and the Nico­laj Art Center in Copen­hagen. She runs an autonomous artis­tic res­i­dency at her home in Muzy­chi on the out­skirts of Kiev.

www.​alevti​nakakhidze.com