For the first time in Ukraine, augmented (AR) reality technology will be used to promote the country’s cultural heritage.
In October 2021, 7 art installations in the form of easels with integration into augmented reality will be installed on the territory of the Stavno hromada (community) located along the state border of Ukraine with Poland.
The project “The Way of Transcarpathian Painting” started in 2020 as part of one of the programs of the Ukrainian Cultural Fund (UCF), Culture.Tourism.Regions
This year’s continuation of the project was named “Ornament”, therefore, in Transcarpathia, the marking of the first of the 4 sites of landscape painting of the Transcarpathian painting phenomenon discovered as a result of last year’s research will begin.
The project is being scaled up on the territory of the Stavnensk territorial hromada together with the NGO “Cultural Platform Zakarpattia” with the support of the Ukrainian Cultural Fund.
“The Stavnensk territorial hromada is the place of the Uzhan concentration of the Way of Transcarpathian Painting. In 2020, 35 painting sites of 4 generations of artists, who created more than 50 landscape paintings, were investigated on the territory of the community,” says Stavnensky village head Ivan Mandryk.
Viaducts, river valleys, medieval castles, and wooden Carpathian churches, which have been added to the UNESCO World Heritage List, form a small list of subjects from the canvases of artists who were ahead of their time and recorded the unique places of Transcarpathia for future generations.
At the same time, the route will focus the attention of the public and tourists not only on the history of the pictorial tradition. It also refers to the ecology of nature and the ecology of man. Thus, as part of the project, it is planned to mark 7 points of the Uzhan concentration of the Way of Transcarpathian Painting with informational installations and branded road signs on the Stavnensk territorial hromada, to create 5 AR-filters, which in the edutainment format will spread knowledge about:
- Adalbert Erdeli and Yosyp Bokshai (founders of the Transcarpathian painting phenomenon, 2021 marks the 130th anniversary of the birth of the artists);
- meteorite “Knyagynia”, the largest among the meteorites found in Europe in recent history, which fell in Transcarpathia in the village of Knyagynia, now kept in the Vienna Imperial Museum);
- primaeval beech forests (located on the territory of the border village of Stuzhytsia, a UNESCO world heritage site);
- the wooden church of St. Michael, the village of Uzhok, (UNESCO world heritage site);
- autumn crocus (a plant from the Red Book of Ukraine);
“AR filters are an effective tool for using the latest technologies to promote a certain product or produce knowledge. This format of edutainment (combination of education and entertainment) was chosen to interact with the target audience,” says Yevhen Zabarylo, the curator of the project, and head of the NGO “Cultural Platform Zakarpattia”.
Also, as part of the development of the Way, it is planned to develop 10 separate maps of the paths of each of the artists (Adalbert Erdeli, Yosyp Bokshai, Zoltan Sholtes, Gavrilo Glyuk, Ernest Kontratovych, Anton Kasshay, Vasyl Gabda, Andriy Kotska, Ivan Shutev, Ivan Ilko) who created Transcarpathian painting phenomenon.
According to the curator of the project, the maps will be placed in rural schools, cultural service centres in communities and the largest sanatoriums in Transcarpathia. In turn, installed special signposts will direct to the main locations of the Way.
Specially for the project, Transcarpathian restaurateur Viktor Mykhaylov (the “Poryadnyi Gazda” and “Mala Gora Chizai” restaurants) will develop and present to the public a menu of favourite dishes of Transcarpathian artists, which they preferred when travelling around the region. Therefore, a series of art picnics will be held for fans of gastro tourism at the beginning of autumn with the opportunity to taste the specialities that were loved by A. Erdely, Y. Bokshai, A. Kotska, Z. Sholtes, H. Glyuk, E. Kontratovych, A. Kasshai, V Gabda, I. Shutev, I. Ilko.
For reference:
The concept of Cultural Routes was introduced in 1987 by the Council of Europe to implement the key cultural principles of the European Union: human rights, cultural democracy, diversity and identity. The first European “Cultural route” – the Way of St. James was certified in the same year – 1987.
Follow the news of the project on the pages of social networks:
https://www.facebook.com/artroad.digital
https://www.instagram.com/carpathians.artroad/
The project is implemented with the support of the Ukrainian Cultural Foundation (UCF). The position of the Ukrainian Cultural Foundation may not coincide with the position of the authors of the project.
Contact person
Yevgen Zabarylo
Project curator
yevhen.zabarylo@cultpz.org