Assembly 2021
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. School Museum of Contemporary Art (KSMoCA) International Acquisition Committee
Tuesday June 8, 12pm PST
Illia Yakovenko
International Acquisition Committee (IAC) is a collaboration between Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Elementary School students and a Portland State University student, Illia Yakovenko, who together work on expanding the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Elementary School Museum of Contemporary Art (KSMoCA) collection with international art. International Acquisition Committee was founded by Illia Yakovenko at KSMoCA in 2020. During the recent year, Illia has given a number of presentations to King School students in which he told about his childhood, Ukraine, Donetsk region—Illia’s home region—, and the ongoing war by showing his collection of postcards, badges, his artwork, and artworks of artists from Ukraine. King School students together with Illia have picked an artwork from a Ukrainian artist that they would want to add to the KSMoCA collection. At this Assembly event, Illia is going to present the collectively picked artwork, talk about IAC and its work process, and invite the chosen artist for a symbolic handover of the artwork.
A screenshot from International Acquisition Committee presentation as part of KSMoCA Artist-in-Residence Lecture Series on November 19, 2020
The Dr. Martin Luther King Jr School Museum of Contemporary Art (KSMoCA)is a contemporary art museum and social practice project inside Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Elementary School in Portland, OR founded in 2014 by Portland State University professors Lisa Jarrett and Harrell Fletcher. ksmoca.com
Illia Yakovenko is a precarious cultural worker, a self-proclaimed artist, curator and poet. Illia is an MFA student in Art and Social Practice at PSU who came to study in the U.S. from Ukraine. Illia spent his childhood in Mariupol, eastern Ukraine. This region is currently dealing with war caused by the unresolved past and present contradictions exacerbated by the imperial geopolitical ambitions of its neighboring state. To address that—heal, imagine, and build a more equitable, inclusive, and safe future—Illia is learning to collectively explore histories, memories, cultures, identities by means of participatory production of art.