Closer (Kyiv) Jazz Concert Program 2018

Editor: This is a program cover for a Kyiv jazz concert called "Closer," created in 2018 by Kinder Album, seemingly in mixed media, depicting a medical worker with a drum set. The blots of red and the subject matter create an unsettling, yet intriguing juxtaposition. What are your thoughts when you look at this image? Curator: This work feels deeply connected to a specific historical moment. The figure in surgical attire immediately situates it in the context of the pandemic and perhaps alludes to the pressures and complexities faced by healthcare workers during that period, and more globally, in the context of conflict. Consider the visual language; the almost cartoon-like rendering softens the edges, but those red splatters disrupt that aesthetic. Editor: That tension between the style and the subject matter makes sense. So you are suggesting the cartoon-like design creates almost a shield for more serious content? Curator: Precisely! It allows the artist to approach sensitive topics—labor, trauma, resilience, music--through a lens that is both accessible and disarming. What I see is how the theme of care, and who provides that care, has been reconsidered. Does the presence of musical instruments—associated with artistic expression—invite questions about how we process collective experiences through the arts? Editor: So, is this then a commentary on not just the role of healthcare workers, but the role of art itself? Curator: I think so. And that ambiguity is potent. The artist makes us consider both the people providing care and the spaces, like Closer, where care happens in less conventional ways. Think of it: what other spaces encourage closer relationships through listening? Is there also a sense of necessary distance or necessary blurring? What does “closer” mean in this context? Editor: I hadn't considered the layers of meaning in "Closer" before, the way it weaves together themes of pandemic response and the unifying power of jazz. Curator: It’s a work that resonates on multiple levels, and reminds us how art can act as both a mirror reflecting societal realities, and a lens refracting our understanding of them.