Visiting the “Kindergarten” exhibition by students of the UFM-11s group of the OP “Financial Management”

On October 24, 2024, students of the first year of the educational program “Financial Management” together with the advisor prof. Yu. Shushkova visited Volodymyr Semkiv’s exhibition “Kindergarten” at the Andrei Sheptytskyi National Museum.
“Kindergarten” or “Kindergarten” is an exhibition of sculptures made of wood, which is a reflection of our sense of reality through childhood; our childishness, cruelty, kindness.
As the artist notes, the shapes and emotions for the sculptures were suggested to him by his own sons. “Children are very expressive, like actors, their every gesture is calibrated. They speak without words. I use it, I observe, I take this gesture. Formally, this is childhood, but in reality it is a character, a relationship to the world and the world to us. This is a gesture of adults, simply shown in the form of a child.”
The exhibition is opened by the work “Before the Scream”. This is a huge figure of a woman giving birth. The first thing that happens to us is birth and a child’s cry. Then – a happy and carefree childhood. You get on your horse and ride forward in search of adventure. Over time, you get overgrown with toys that you can’t help yourself with… Each sculpture expresses different human emotions and states – resentment, perseverance, dreaminess, purposefulness, but each one is so sincere and frank. It is not surprising that young people could not resist and showed their childishness, trying to repeat the emotions and states of a “kid”.
During the viewing of the works of Volodymyr Semkiv, the students shared with the counselor their dreams and goals for the future, discussed the causes of misunderstandings, resentments and conflicts, their behavior in such situations, ways to fight against a bad mood, etc. The final work “Swing” caused the most stormy reaction among those present, as views on the expressed emotion were divided. For one half of the students, this sculpture demonstrated a “positive” emotion of joy (gaiety, delight), for the other – a “negative” emotion of dissatisfaction (fidgeting, despair). This is exactly what happens in adult life – the same actions and words can cause completely opposite emotions in different people. Having agreed that all emotions are necessary and have their function, students understood the feasibility of developing emotional competence (the ability to understand, manage and express one’s own emotions, as well as to interact effectively with the emotions of other people) as an important aspect of personal development and interpersonal relationships.