GOLOVCHENKO, Kirill - Kachalka. Muscle beach

"In 2012, 'Kachalka' was the third book by Kirill GOLOVCHENKO. The photo series 'Kachalka' has been awarded the Dr. Ing. Berthold Roland Photo Art Award 2012 and nominated for the n-ost Reportage Award 2013." (© Richard G. SPORKLEDER)

"'Kachalka' is a well-known open-air fitness center in the Ukraine, founded 35 years ago by private initiative, now offering 10,000 square meters of free training for anyone who wants to work on their own no matter what social class they come from.

The photographs by Kirill GOLOVCHENKO not only document the rituals of a physical culture that finds its unmistakable expression in 'Kachalka'.
In his pictures, the young and old Ukrainian bodybuilders appear as a powerful and ironic visual metaphor for the ambitious spirit of optimism in this country." (publisher's note, © Kehrer Verlag, 2012)

Review:
'Kachalka' is a huge open-air bodybuilder studio near Kiev, where 'people of all ages and shapes are maltreated of home-made but always blue fitness equipment. (...)' Kachalka ', as well The previous projects of the photographer, [is] not only the dense, visual description of an exotic location, but also exemplifies the changes in Eastern Europe.

The color red on the title (and as a final paper) is not chosen by chance, but takes the aesthetics and color of the logo of the 1980 Olympic Games in Moscow, referring to a time before the collapse of the Soviet Union. From this time also appear the sports equipment, all of which belong in the museum - in the Museum of Modern Art! All in all, this rather small-format book is a heavyweight that you can always carry without effort. (...) In her accompanying text 'Another Type of Democratic Forest' Celina Lunsford explicitly refers to 'The Democratic Forest' by William EGGLESTON.

I do not dare to comment on the comparison of the two books, nor do I want to comment in detail, but it is precisely these small parallels and relationships, perhaps only in the spirit, that make me a fan of the book by Kirill Golovchenko. "(© Stephanie Bunk)


More photobooks by Kirill GOLOVCHENKO are:
'7 Km. Field of Wonder' (2010),
'Totalniy Futbol - A Polish-Ukrainian Football Tour' (2012),
'Arbeitsbuch / Labour book' (2015),
'Obval / Crash. 2014-2015' (2015),


About the photographer, Kirill GOLOVCHENKO (b. 1974 in Odessa):
Kirill GOLOVCHENKO studied communication design at the University of Darmstadt.
Kirill GOLOVCHENKO was 2003 (together with Andrea DIEFENBACH) and 2014 awarded with the Abisag TÜLLMANN Prize for his documentary work.

For his diploma thesis '7km - Field of Wonders' he receives the award for documentary photography of the Wüstenrot Foundation 2007/2008 as well as numerous prizes and awards.
The promotion prize documentary photography of the Wüstenrot Foundation 2007/2008, the DAAD Art Fellowship and VG Bild- Kunst Projektförderung enable him to complete further photo projects in the Ukraine.

Kirill GOLOVCHENKO's photographic works have been exhibited in solo and group exhibitions in Germany and abroad since 2003, including Uferhallen Berlin, Mathildenhöhe Darmstadt, Photokina Cologne, Kunstverein Bad Aibling, Kunstverein Ludwigshafen, Photo Espana Madrid, Städtische Galerie Brunsbüttel, Photomuseum Braunschweig.