NGO Museum of Contemporary Art

Our Mission

NGO Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA NGO) unites representatives of artistic and expert communities working with contemporary art in Ukraine, systematically develops the sphere, and advocates the necessity to create a new type of museum institution in our country.

MOCA NGO history: The organization was established in 2020 on the basis of the NGO Dzygamedialab (2015), which has been developing the Open Archive of Ukrainian Media Art and related projects for five years. The discussion on the need for museification of contemporary art in Ukraine has continued in the professional environment since the mid-1990s. In 2019 it was supported by the efforts of Minister of Culture (Volodymyr Borodyansky, 2019-2020), and then the museum issue went beyond purely professional discussion. In March 2020, the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy selected the scientific research by the group, which has been working at the National Art Museum of Ukraine since 2017, to implement the professional museum institution of contemporary art. Two of the nine participants in that working group joined the group of Advisors of the MOCA NGO, and four joined the self-governing MOCA Expert Councils initiated by the MOCA NGO.

Co-founders of MOCA NGO put their minds and efforts into the art system-developing projects.

Here is a link to the co-founders interview on the museum creation issues subject (July 2021): https://artmargins.com/on-the-concept-of-the-museum-of-contemporary-art-in-ukraine-svitlana-biedarieva-in-conversation-with-olya-balashova-and-yuliia-hnat/

Since 2021, together with several dozen colleagues, involved in one way or another, we have been working on primary issues that will make contemporary art in Ukraine more accessible for the professional community and broader audiences, in particular, through advanced museum activities. We strive to create conditions for productive work in the field of contemporary art.

Before 24th February 2022, there were three directions in MOCA NGO program activities: 1. Institutional (the projects that facilitate the structural development of the art field). 2. Science + Education + Communications. 3. Interaction with the authorities (the projects that provide guidance from the professional community and support to the state institutions).

We believe that an advanced system of contemporary art, as we consider it and work on it, delivers results in the following areas: "Contact with the Contemporary" "Thinking" "Understanding yourself" ("Identity") "Accumulation of values," primarily - the symbolic values of contemporary artworks. It affects the reputation, social, and economic value projections at the both levels of individuals and society as a whole. This is our choice that shapes our activities and our relationships with our teammates, colleagues and partners. We would describe our activities as liquid, shared, digital, based on relations/ integrations/ networks, glocal, sustainable on point.

Since 24th February 2022, when Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, MOCA NGO has been focusing on the projects that are particularly relevant during the war days and afterwards and established the Ukrainian Emergency Art Fund in partnership with The Naked Room, ZABORONA and Mystetskyi Arsenal.

MOCA NGO actual priorities:

Short term: +community: support and development of the art community in Ukraine; +content: working with art practices results.

Long term: country transformations caused by the development of advanced art system (new type of professional museum as a core element).

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The Ukrainian Emergency Art Fund (UEAF) raises funds to distribute to independent artists, curators, art managers, researchers, culture workers and non-governmental cultural initiatives in need.

As you can see on the UEAF website (https://ueaf.moca.org.ua) :

UEAF mission: Today, the world needs free, strong and alive voices of Ukrainian cultural actors more than ever. Our task is to ensure the continuity and development of the Ukrainian cultural process during the war.

UEAF priorities: 1. Survival/emergency needs: support for cultural workers who have remained in Ukraine and urgently need support to ensure a basic standard of living and security. 2. Development needs: to ensure the visibility of Ukrainian culture in Ukraine and abroad, we support cultural workers and artists in Ukraine and those who relocated abroad after the start of a full-scale Russian war against Ukraine. We strive to support: + individual creative activity of artists and cultural workers; + continuity of research of curators, theoreticians, researchers and other cultural workers; + support packages for NGOs and cultural initiatives to support and enhance their programs and activities.

UEAF team do: + facilitate support and administer donations offered by international artistic and charity organisations, as well as from private donors; + provide support for cultural actors from different sectors( independent artists, curators, arts managers, researchers, writers etc) and cultural NGOs in Ukraine; + provide the opportunity to live and work for cultural workers, who decided to stay in Ukraine in order to preserve the cultural heritage of their area (museums, private collections, architectural monuments), etc. + globally promote contemporary Ukrainian culture as a powerful instrument for protection of the values of democracy and freedom in the world.