Exhibition «Grozny: Nine Cities»

March 21 – April 5
Visual Culture Research Center (44 Hlybochytska Street (1st floor), Kyiv)

International Documentary Human Rights Film Festival Docudays UA, Visual Culture Research Center, and Political Critique invite you to the exhibition Grozny: Nine Cities, which will take place from March 21 to April 5 at the address 44 Hlybochytska Street.

Grozny: Nine Cities is a joint project by Olga Kravets, Maria Morina, and Oksana Yushko, exploring specific aspects of Grozny’s aftermath through considering them as «cities» hidden within Grozny. Grozny, the capital of war-torn Chechnya, is a melting pot for changing Сaucasus society that is trying to overcome a post-trauma shock of two recent wars and find its own way of life in between traditional Сhechen values, Muslim traditions, and globalization, to cope with rapidly changing role of women, increasing contrast between rich and poor and political games.

The project Grozny: Nine Cities centers on the idea of nine cities being hidden in one, which gives us a concept to explore specific aspects of the aftermath of two Chechen wars considering them as «cities» hidden within Grozny. First city is the city that has ceased to exist – memory of Soviet multicultural Grozny that was bombed and burned down. Second city is the city of war, where violence has become a kind of background noise for locals. Third city is the city of religion, undergoing total Islamization conducted by Ramzan Kadyrov. The city of women and the city of men reveal gender problems connected with these processes. The city of strangers is a story about complicated ethnic relationships within the city. The city of oil is an economic base on which authoritarian President Ramzan Kadyrov builds his city of servants, loyal to his regime. Under the burden of threats and uncertainty, within the wind of rapid changes the city of ordinary people lives its everyday life.

Curator – Anna Shpakova

Exhibition is open every day, except Monday, from 13:00 to 19:00
Exhibition opening – March 21, at 17:30
Project authors Maria Morina and Oksana Yushko, curator Anna Shpakova will attend the opening.
On March 22, at 18:00 a tour around the exhibition will take place with the participation of the authors.

Admission is free

On March 22, at 12:00, Maria, Oksana and Anna will hold a meeting with the audience of DOCU/CLASS on «Group Project Grozny: 9 Cities – how to create and to present a critical project on the events in your country».

On the 5th of April, at 19:00 the discussion «Chechen Option» will take place. The discussion will explore the parallels between the counter-terrorist operation in Chechnya and anti-terrorist operation in the East of Ukraine.

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.

Contacts:

Visual Culture Research Center

+380631481204 (Nazariy Sovsun)
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vcrc@vcrc.org.ua