History of the International triennial of eco-posters
and graphics «4th Block»
On the April 26th in 1986 at 1.24 a.m was happened an explosion of atomic reactor of the 4th energy block in Chornobyl`s atomic power station. Unloud crack in a night sky over Pripjat with alarming echo passed through the world and radically changed the worldview of million people on a problem of the technological danger created by a human being activity.
An explosion was thermal but there were thrown out a lot of radioactive elements to atmosphere — big pieces of graphite that fall dawn near station and radioactive dust. According to the most wary estimates the total power of elements, which were in air equating to 10 atomic bombs that were thrown to Hiroshima in 1945 as a minimum. These dangerous radioactive elements were gone by the wind in a short time onto a huge area of Ukraine, Byelorussia, Russia and some of other European countries. In May-June of 1986 the most infected and dangerous for human beings health was the territory in radius of 30 kilometers around Chornobyl`s atomic station.
On the April 29th 1986 a poster-artist, teacher of the Kharkiv Institute of Industrial Arts (now — Kharkiv State Academy of Design and Arts), former army officer, Lieutenant Oleg Veklenko like a thousands other reservists was mobilize to Chemical Defense army forces and on the 3rd of May he was already in Chornobyl. He had been there during two months.
Lieutenant Veklenko works many times at the station just nearby the destroyed reactor and in other places of the 30 kilometers zone. He experienced many dramatic communications with people of different social levels and professions.
In those disturbing days, he made the tens of uniqueness photos. He photographed subjects, persons to which photo correspondents from the main international newspapers did not paid sufficient attention, and these stories were inaccessible to them at that time.
As an artist, Oleg Veklenko could fix up his impressions in the small pencil sketches and in big pictures — portraits of the soldiers who were risking their lives doing responsible and dangerous job. As a result, it was organized an exhibition of the Chornobyl heroes’ portraits. This exhibition was shown in the art galleries of Chornobyl, Kiev, Kharkiv, Poltava and other cities of Ukraine.
Because of that hard experience, the theme of moral responsibility of an artist in front of threat of new technological catastrophes, pollution of environment, became the central in Oleg Veklenko’s life and art. It was made a decision to organize international poster exhibition «4th Block» in 1991 devoted to a fifth anniversary of Chornobyl tragedy together with colleagues, Chornobyl friends Valerij Sleta, Sergey Mirnij, Viacheslav Olenin and Alexander Bendus. The designers and printmakers from 54 countries responded at the invitation and sent their art works. The exhibition was opened on April 26-th in 1991 in the Kharkiv Art Museum and was favored by Kharkiv citizens and city guests.
Since that time every three years thanks to efforts of many like-minders, support of private and state companies, in Kharkiv take place International triennial of eco-poster, graphics and youth eco-projects. Exhibits touch the most painful ecological problems, pollution of environment, global warming, genetic engineering etc. The President of the triennial until nowadays is Honorable artist of Ukraine, professor of Kharkiv State Academy of Design and Arts Oleg Veklenko.
The last sixth triennial «4th Block» successfully took place in Kharkiv in 2006.
Uniqueness collection of contemporary world ecological poster and graphics counts more than 4500 works from 54 different countries. Permanent participants of the triennial are famous masters of the world design and graphics, and the students of the different art schools from all over the world as well.
During the time of triennial, accompany with the main collection also take place a lot of fellow-exhibitions, ecological and art actions, performances, workshops of the triennial’s international jury — famous graphic artists and designers of nowadays. In different years the members of jury team in Kharkiv were Georgij Yakutovich, Andrey Chebykin, Nikolay Avvakumov, Vladymir Voronkov, Vitalij Shostia, Sergey Serov, Igor Gurovich, Alain le Quernec, Jan Rajhlich Petr Bankov, Phil Risbeck, Ahn Sang-Soo, Laurence Madrelle and other.
The clips of ecological poster from triennial collection «4th Block» has permanent exhibitions in different cities of Ukraine and abroad. For last three years exhibitions took place in Dnipropetrovsk, Kiev, Slavutich, Energodar and Odessa. At different times under the support of the international partners the poster and documentary photos exhibitions were organized in Toronto (Canada), London (Great Britain), Arhus (Denmark), Istanbul (Turkey), Basel (Switzerland), Moscow and Novosibirsk (Russia), Berlin (Germany).
Triennial «4th Block» supports progressive initiatives of designers community in Ukraine, Commonwealth of Independent States and also develops friendly relations with Moscow International biennial «Golden Bee», International trademarks contest «Tamga» (Novosibirsk, Russia), International design festival «Cow» (Dnipropetrovsk, Ukraine).
Triennial «4th Block» fosters youth ecological projects; many of them take place in the frames of triennial as fellow-exhibitions. Some important design projects in social sphere were raised under the wing of triennial «4th Block». They are having international status now and begin their independent life. One of these projects is Kharkiv International poster biennial «Anti-AIDS Ukraine».
The main goal of the triennial is to represent every three years the most significant art achievements of the world designers community on ecological subject matter.
One else important aim is to create the Center of ecological art to unite creativity and social activity of designers, printmakers, artists for forming ecological thought in society and especially for young people. The expressive means of contemporary art and design should help to resolve this problem.
