In August 2023, the ArtArmor exhibition “Spiritual Victory” was replenished with three new icons written on armor plates: “Protection of the Holy Virgin”, “Holy Family”, and “Savior in the Tomb”.

 

This series of works proves that we constantly pray for the defenders of Ukraine, who are fighting for the freedom, independence and right of existence of Ukrainians. Each work is written on the armor plate that saved the lives of our soldiers.

 

Currently, the collection contains 15 icons written on armor plates that saved the lives of defenders of Ukraine at the front. Earlier, 12 of these icons visited the churches of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine and the Roman Catholic Church. In May of this year, His Beatitude Metropolitan Epiphany of Kyiv and All Ukraine consecrated these icons in St. Michael’s Golden-Domed Cathedral in Kyiv.

 

We are grateful to the icon painters who only recently joined the ArtArmor charitable art project but have already created such masterpieces.

More and more artists from different parts of the world continue to join the ArtArmor charitable project.

 

In the summer of 2023, on the eve of the opening of our exhibition in Berlin, the German artist Ute Hillenbrand provided the ArtArmor project with her art object created from the armor plate provided by us.

 

“To protect life” – these are the words depicted by the artist on the plate, which saved our military man, who is currently protecting Ukraine and the whole world from the aggressor country. This work has already become part of the exposition of the ArtArmor project.

 

It was the work that was shown for the first time at the Polish Institute in Berlin, where the grand opening of the ArtArmor exhibition took place on July 18, 2023. Ms Hillenbrand became one of the honored guests of the event. We are very grateful to her for supporting our project and Ukraine as a whole!

The well-known manufacturer of protective equipment and military equipment, NP Aerospace, donated a batch of high-quality protective equipment to the ArtArmor charity art project. In turn, ArtArmor presented NP Aerospace with 2 icons written on armor plates.

 

Cooperation became possible thanks to Vadym Prystayko, the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Ukraine to Great Britain at that time. It was the person who contributed to the acquaintance of the company and the charity project.

 

NP Aerospace became interested in ArtArmor’s activities and decided to donate a significant amount of equipment to the art project free of charge. It is aimed directly at the front. Defence Intelligence of the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine especially thanked NP Aerospace for supporting ArtArmor.

 

In addition, there was a meeting between Vadym Prystaiko and the team of NP Aerospace, during which Mr. Prystaiko handed over the icons written on the armor plates to James Kempston, CEO of NP Aerospace.

 

One of the icons was painted on the NP Aerospace plate, adding symbolism to the gift the ArtArmor art project made to the company.

 

Now these objects of spirituality and art will be located in the headquarters of the company in Great Britain and Canada.

In the walls of the Patriarchal Cathedral of the Resurrection of Christ, an exhibition of the ArtArmor collection “Spiritual Victory” took place – these are 12 icons written on armor plates. These armor plates saved the lives of defenders of Ukraine at the front.

 

Previously, this collection visited the churches of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine and the Roman Catholic Church. His Beatitude Metropolitan Epiphanius of Kyiv and All Ukraine consecrated these icons, written on armor plates, in May of this year in Kyiv in St. Michael’s Golden-Domed Cathedral.

 

“Spiritual Victory” is an important part of ArtArmor’s charitable artistic project. Its goal is the consolidation of society, spiritual support of the soldiers of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, and the preservation of national culture through the combination of art, religion, and history.

 

Various religious denominations in Ukraine support the idea of turning damaged armor plates into icons – in this way, the plates that saved human lives become real works of spirituality and art.

 

We are grateful to the clergy for unity around one common goal – saving lives and a free, independent, safe Ukraine!

The exhibition “Art Armor: Art that saves lives” was opened in the gallery of the Polish Institute in Berlin on July 18, 2023. The exhibition presents armored plates that protected the lives of our soldiers at the front, and now have become works of art.

 

On the day of the grand opening, artists, journalists, activists, volunteers, and even representatives of embassies gathered in the gallery of the Polish Institute in Berlin. In particular, the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Ukraine to the Federal Republic of Germany, Oleksiy Makeev, and the Ambassador of the Republic of Poland to Germany were at the opening.

 

The armor plates of our defenders became a canvas for the most famous artists of Ukraine and the world. Now this exhibition travels around Europe and provides information about the war in Ukraine and the stories of the rescue of defenders.

 

Berlin has already become the fourth European capital where the main ArtArmor exhibition is presented – before that, our collection visited Warsaw, Tallinn, and Stockholm.

 

From Tuesday to Friday from 13:00 to 18:00, everyone can visit the exhibition at the Polish Institute in Berlin until August 20, 2023.

The Minister of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine Oleksandr Tkachenko met with his French counterpart, the Minister of Culture of France Rima Abdul Malak during a working visit to Paris. The parties discussed current projects and further plans for cooperation between the countries.

 

He shared this on his Facebook page.

 

One of the events was the opening of the exhibition of ancient icons from the collection of the Khanenko Museum “Near the Origins of the sacred image” in the Paris Louvre. These are 5 of 16 masterpieces brought from Kyiv to Paris.

 

In addition, the head of the Ministry of Culture presented one of the works of the ArtArmor project to Rimi Abdul Malak. This is the icon “Mother of God Softening Evil Hearts”. It was written on the armor plate, which saved the life of the defender of Ukraine, within the framework of our sub-project “Spiritual Victory”.

 

Among the events in support of Ukraine, which are planned to be organized in France, is the holding of ArtArmor exhibitions. This was one of the topics discussed by the heads of the Ministries of Culture of Ukraine and France.

Graphic designer Mykola Kovalenko creates posters dedicated to Ukraine every day since the beginning of the full-scale war. His goal is to draw the world’s attention to events in his native country.

 

The artist turned one of the armor plates that saved the life of the defender of Ukraine into an art object as part of the project. So now people will be able to see his work at ArtArmor exhibitions.

 

Mykola Kovalenko provided the process of transforming an armored plate into an art object on his Facebook page.

 

“Armor plates, which have already saved someone’s life, can once again help our fighters. All collected funds will be aimed to help the Armed Forces. I am happy to join and support my country in this way!”, Mr. Mykola commented on our cooperation.

 

Even though the Ukrainian artist has been living in Slovakia for several years, he is an ardent patriot of his Motherland. We are grateful to Mykola Kovalenko for his daily support of Ukraine in the information and cultural space, as well as for his participation in our art project.

ArtArmor artistic project is unique not only for Ukraine but also for the whole world. The variety of means and techniques used in the transformation of armor plates into artillery objects that saved human life provides a wide range of opportunities for the implementation of creative ideas.

 

The name for the new art direction was proposed by the founder of ArtArmor and the Ukraine for Heroes Charitable Foundation Oleksandr Kovalchuk.

 

“Πανοπλοηρά” – in Ukrainian transliteration, this word will sound like “panoploeira”.

 

According to Oleksandr Kovalchuk, this name is formed from the Greek word “panoply” and the suffix “-eira”. Thus the word “Πανοπλοηρά” means “with images” or “decorated with images”.

 

This term refers to the artistic decoration of protective military equipment with images, paintings, or icons.

 

We propose to use it to denote the artistic works of the ArtArmor project and other works of the corresponding artistic direction, which will be inspired by the creativity of the artists participating in our project and other philanthropists who support Ukraine.

In the Rivne region, the selection of the winners of the “Colors of Victory” art competition, organized by the team of the ArtArmor art project within the ArtArmor-Children direction, which was created to attract young generations to art and support Ukraine, has ended.

 

During the collection of works, which lasted throughout April, the organizers of the competition made some changes to its conditions: initially, it was planned that only the winner would get the right to transfer his work to the armor plate that saved the life of the defender of Ukraine. In the end, they decided to give this right to the “silver” and “bronze” prize-winners as well.

 

First place goes to Maria Kotiai from Rivne, who studies art at the Rivne City Palace of Children and Youth.

 

 

The second place goes to Sofia Yakovenko, who also lives in the city of Rivne. She studies at the EuroArt Art Studio.

 

 

Third place – Karina Chugay from the village of Voronki, Varas district. She did not provide information about her art education.

 

 

Also, two participants of the competition who are children with special needs, and despite everything, are purposeful and create beautiful pictures, will receive incentive awards.

 

Incentive awards will be given to:

 

Yaroslav Gaidayenko, a pupil of the EuroArt Art Studio:

 

 

Yevgenia Lytvynenko, student of the EvroArt Art Studio:

 

 

The winners and participants of the competition will be awarded, followed by an exhibition and presentation of the works of all contestants in the city of Kyiv, at the National Museum of the History of Ukraine in the Second World War.

 

The artists who won prizes will transfer their works to the armor plates that saved the lives of soldiers defending Ukraine at the front.

 

Work has also already begun on the planning of the nationwide competition ArtArmor Children.

Kaido Ole, one of Estonia’s most famous contemporary artists, has completed his work for ArtArmor.

 

He turned the armor plate that saved the life of a Ukrainian soldier into a real wound inflicted on people by Russia’s war against Ukraine.

 

“It was not an easy task at all. Compared to war and real bullet marks, art can add not so much. I decided to point out what is already there and make these marks more visible (and painful) because the kind of wounds from this bloody war are guaranteed to all of us. For many people, these are real wounds on the body, and for others – wounds in the souls and hearts. Especially for me,” the artist himself describes his work.

 

Kaido joined the ArtArmor project and received an armor plate to create an art object in March 2023.

 

He presented Estonia at the jubilee 50th Venice Biennale in 2003, has a large number of awards, and at one time taught at the famous Estonian Academy of Arts, and now supports Ukraine in word and deed.

 

The theme of war is very painful for the Estonian artist, as can be seen from the work of art, which became the armor plate.

 

We are infinitely grateful to Kaido Ole for his support of Ukraine, for his participation in our art project, and for his concern for the struggle of the Ukrainian people for their existence.