Ukraine in Flames: What Art Can Tell After the Revolution

18 May 2016, 4 pm, Discussion
Ukraine in Flames: What Art Can Tell After the Revolution
Participants: Oleksandr Burlaka, Vasyl Cherepanyn, Lesia Khomenko, Serhiy Klymko, Lesia Kulchinska, Anya Medvedeva, Maria Teteriuk

The events of winter 2013/2014, which brought new media to its extreme, constituted what is widely claimed to be a “social media revolution” or even a “visual revolution” with billions of shots of user-generated content and thousands of narratives. Broadly televised, Maidan also ignited new processes in film, music, and art. But after two years of Maidan, Ukraine is still a land between revolution and war, surviving a hybrid warfare in the east of the country and nourishing a new hydra of right-wing politics and corruption in the centre. 
What is the task of contemporary art in a (post-) revolutionary situation? Is contemporary art prescribed to be one of the media of a revolution? At the discussion we will aim to address the place of the professional artist and art institution as well as what makes their statements legitimate.


Further events in the framework of “The School of Kyiv” at Kunsthalle Exnergasse: 

18 May 2016, 7 pm, Exhibition opening
19 May – 29 May 2016, Exhibition / Opening hours: daily 13.00 – 18.00
Into the Dark 
Curated by Hudrada

21 May 2016, 5 pm, Presentation
David Chichkan. How to Make the Radical Left Art in Ukraine

21 May 2016, 7 pm, Lecture
Lesia Kulchinska. In-hibition: A Story of Love and Hatred Towards Art

A project by “The School of Kyiv” in collaboration with Kunsthalle Exnergasse 


Biographies of participants:

Hudrada (Creative committee) act as curatorial and activist interdisciplinary group, active since 2008. Hudrada’s members are architects, political activists, translators, writers, designers, and artists. Projects organised by Hudrada are based on discussion combining the experience of participants. These projects have form of exhibitions, which become a platform for theoretical work, and public activist campaigns.

Lesia Khomenko was born in 1980 in Kyiv, Ukraine. She graduated from the National Academy of Fine Art and Architecture in 2004. She is a co-founding member of the R.E.P. group and curatorial and activist union Hudrada. Her works have been shown in different solo and group exhibitions, including the Main Project of the 1st Kyiv Biennale of Contemporary Art Arsenale 2012 (Kyiv); National Art Museum of Ukraine (Kyiv); White Box Gallery (New York); MUMOK (Vienna); Zacheta Gallery (Warsaw). She was shortlisted for the PinchukArtPrize (2009, 2011, 2013), Future Generation Art Prize (2012) and Kazimir Malevich Artist Award (2012). Lives and works in Kyiv.

Oleksandr Burlaka was born in Kyiv in 1982. He graduated from the Faculty of Architecture at Kyiv National University of Construction and Architecture (2005). He is a member of Melnychuk-Burlaka art group and a co-founder of the curatorial and activist union Hudrada. He worked on the architectural studies architecture and its transformation in post-Soviet countries. Lives and works in Kyiv.

Visual Culture Research Center (VCRC) was founded in 2008 as a platform for collaboration between academic, artistic, and activist communities. VCRC is an independent initiative, which is engaged in publishing and artistic activities, scientific research, organization of public lectures, discussions, and conferences. In 2015 Visual Culture Research Center received the European Cultural Foundation’s Princess Margriet Award and became an organizing platform for "The School of Kyiv" - Kyiv Biennial.

Lesia Kulchynska, Ph.D. in Film Studies, is researcher at the Department of Film and Television Studies at the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine and associate professor at the National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy. Curator at the Visual Culture Research Center. She writes on culture and social issues for various Ukrainian magazines. Lives and works in Kyiv.

Vasyl Cherepanyn was born in 1980 in Ivano-Frankivsk and lives in Kyiv. He is the Head of Visual Culture Research Center and an editor of the “Political Critique” magazine (Ukrainian edition). He works as a senior lecturer at the Cultural Studies Department of the National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy and holds a Ph.D. in philosophy (specialization – aesthetics). Also, he worked as a guest lecturer at the Institute for Advanced Studies of the “Political Critique” in Warsaw, Poland and the Krupp Wissenschaftskolleg Greifswald of the Greifswald University, Germany. 

Maria Teteriuk, PhD candidate in Mass Communications, joint program of National University of ‘Kyiv-Mohyla Academy’, Ukraine and Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB), Spain. Senior lecturer in Media Studies at Mohyla School of Journalism. Currently a Junior Visiting Fellow at IWM, Ukraine in European Dialogue program. Previously worked as a freelance cultural journalist ('Kino-Teatr' Magazine, Korydor, Ukrains'ka Pravda, LB.ua). Research interests: political communication, discourse analysis, sexual rights, queer theory. 

Serhiy Klymko is a curator, cultural manager and journalist. Curated and co-curated a number of projects including Ukrainian Body, Unrendered Spaces, Some Say You Can Find Happiness There and others. He is also a co-founder of Nyzhnioyurkivska 31 youth hub and co-organizer of DIYstvo festival. MA in Cultural Studies, lives in Kyiv.

IZOLYATSIA, the cultural platform founded in Donetsk and subsequently forcibly occupied by the DPR para-military and then exiled, relocated to Kyiv in June 2014, from where it initiates and presents projects, as well as throughout Ukraine and the world. 
These include ZMINA, a series of educational and creative initiatives in Eastern Ukraine, the international residency program Architecture Ukraine (Mariupol-Kyiv), the exhibition Culture and Conflict: IZOLYATSIA in Exile held at the Palais de Tokyo (Paris), in DOX (Prague) and in the Heinrich Böll Foundation (Berlin), #onvacation project at La Biennale di Venezia (Venice) and project Letters to the Mayor in collaboration with Storefront for Art and Architecture (New-York).

Anya Medvedeva, Communications Director at IZOLYATSIA. Born in Donetsk, lived in Hamburg, Germany and in several Ukrainian cities (Kharkiv and Kyiv). Bachelor of Economics and Master of Translation (English, German), Donetsk National University. Worked as an Executive in Economics at German Consulate General, 2010-2011 and as a Deputy Head of the Marketing office Donetsk of the Austrian Embassy in Ukraine, 2006-2010. 


Entire programme of  “The School of Kyiv” in Vienna.
Supported with funds from SHIFT