The Kyiv International – ’68 NOW

Visual Culture Research Center announces The Kyiv International – ’68 NOW, the second edition of The Kyiv International – Kyiv Biennial 2017, to take place in Kyiv at the House of Cinema, May 11 – 25, 2018.

The Kyiv International project aims to reveal the emancipatory potential in the idea of the political International, which first emerged in Europe. The Kyiv International edition of May 2018 will take place in the format of an international forum for art and knowledge and for the first time will bring to Ukraine such outstanding contemporary philosophers and historians as Jacques Rancière (France), Chantal Mouffe (Belgium), Aleida Assmann (Germany), Agnes Heller (Hungary) and Alexei Yurchak (USA).

This project explores the political and cultural heritage of the revolt and struggle of 1968, considering the antinomies of this moment for the West and East of Europe fifty years onward. The legacy of May 1968 remains a symbol of liberation and rebellion against entrenched power structures, and a cultural and artistic benchmark for Western Europe. The commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the Prague Spring and Soviet military invasion of Czechoslovakia – most immediate in Eastern Europe – continue to define political and cultural divides across the continent. By comparing different dimensions of this event, as a departure for contemporaneous understanding, ’68 NOW contributes to a united European subjectivity grounded in democratic internationalism, based upon the principles of solidarity and inclusivity.

The Kyiv International – ’68 NOW will begin on May 11 with a lecture by the French philosopher Jacques Rancière, entitled “Repoliticizing the French 68.” The Belgian political thinker Chantal Mouffe will deliver a lecture “The Affects of Democracy” on May 18. A symposium “Living Newspaper: The Legacy of the Prague Spring Today” will take place on May 19 with the participation of the highly noted Hungarian philosopher, Agnes Heller. Lectures and discussions will take place alongside screenings, artist talks, and presentations, including a workshop by Experimental Jetset (The Netherlands) on May 12, and another event with Igor Grubić (Croatia) on May 13. The program wraps up with the lecture “1968 in Germany – a Generation with Two Phases and Faces” by the German historian and cultural anthropologist Aleida Assmann on May 23 and the lecture “Laboratory of the Future: Lenin’s Body between Biochemistry and Art” by the Russian-American cultural anthropologist, Alexei Yurchak on May 25.

Address: The House of Cinema, 6 Saksahanskoho St.

Admission to all events will be free of charge.

Organized by Visual Culture Research Center (Kyiv, Ukraine).

Emblem by Experimental Jetset, Amsterdam, 2018.

Institutional Partners: De Balie (Amsterdam, The Netherlands), European University Viadrina (Frankfurt (Oder), Germany), Krytyka Polityczna (Warsaw, Poland), Medusa Books (Kyiv, Ukraine), tranzit.cz (Prague, Czech Republic).

With the Support of: Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung, Goethe-Institut Ukraine, Prince Claus Fund.

The Kyiv International – Kyiv Biennial 2017 has taken place in Kyiv

The Kyiv International – Kyiv Biennial 2017 took place on October 20–November 26 at five locations in Kyiv. Its program featured more than 40 events. Over 20,000 people visited The Kyiv International – Kyiv Biennial 2017.

The Kyiv International – Kyiv Biennial 2017 took place in the format of an international forum for art and knowledge. A series of exhibitions, performances, screenings, lectures and discussions led by well-known historians, philosophers and cultural activists addressed the political, social, economic, and historical circumstances in Ukraine and Europe in search of collective answers to today’s most pressing issues.

The main location of The Kyiv International – Kyiv Biennial 2017 was the Institute of Scientific, Technical and Economic Information, or “UFO” (at 180 Antonovycha Street Metro Lybidska), a monument to modernist architecture, which may soon be transformed into a segment of the shopping and entertainment center “Ocean Mall.” Within the format of The Kyiv International – Kyiv Biennial 2017 there was a meeting with Florian Yuriev, the architect of the “UFO,” as well as public discussion concerning a project for its potential renovation. This meeting led to the creation of the #SAVEKYIVMODERNISM initiative. Urbanists, architects and activists are now mobilizing in order to protect the city’s modernist architecture – demanding that City of Kyiv include “UFO” and other buildings into the state register of architectural monuments.

During The Kyiv International – Kyiv Biennial 2017, there were many film screenings, lectures, performances, book presentations, exhibitions, and concerts.

The Opening Exhibition “The Festivities Are Cancelled!” by the Hudrada curatorial group (Ukraine) took place upon the occasion of the Centennial of the October Revolution. The exhibit was dedicated to the memory of revolution and the phenomenon of censorship in both historical and contemporary contexts; the event proceeded in two parts that took place at the main Biennial location, the “UFO,” and at the Pavlo Tychyna Literary Memorial Museum Apartment. The exhibit at Tychyna Museum was shut down by the administration earlier than planned due to the graphic work “Delegation of Power” by Davyd Chychkan, which was banned from the exhibit by the Museum collective due to fear of attack from far-right groups. Protesting censorship, the exhibition curators made it impossible to view the works without closing the exhibition. For more information about the situation, see the comments from the curators of the exhibit and museum workers.

The exhibition “Market” curated by Hanna Tsyba (Ukraine) was the first contemporary art installation on the premises of Kyiv’s Zhytniy Market. The pieces included in the exhibit each aimed to draw attention to the building that houses the Market, a distinctive example of late modernist architecture that has not been included into the state register of architectural monuments. The work “Market Relations” by the architects and researchers of neo-modernism Oleksandr Burlaka and Oleksiy Bykov depicts the history of planning and construction from 1960-1980 with regard to Ukrainian indoor markets. This particular installation has been donated to Zhytniy Market as a permanent display.

The exhibition “Dead Souls” by Marina Naprushkina (Germany) and Oliver Ressler (Austria) was on display at the Visual Culture Research Center. The installation centered around considerations and reflections of the many critical issues that refugees face today. The works by Marina Naprushkina presented key provisions within EU asylum and migration policy, which often leads to economic and social inequality. Oliver Ressler focused on struggles to obtain citizenship, at the same time questioning the implicitly exclusionary nature of the concept based on the example of occupied factories, in which workers aim to achieve control over the means of production.

The “Dance, Dance, Dance” exhibition in the newly opened BURSA GALLERY runs until December 10! Its curator is Serge Klymko (Ukraine), who, as the founder of the “Nyzhnioyurkivska 31” space, was personally involved in creating the conditions for the current booming rave culture in Kyiv. In his work he problematizes the concept of the “New East” by considering the post-Soviet dance scene as a symptom of social and political processes.

Participants of The Kyiv International included: Mikhail Ryklin (Germany), Hiroshi McDonald Mori (Japan), Phil Collins (Germany), Marina Naprushkina (Germany), Oliver Ressler (Austria), Philip Rizk (Egypt), Oksana Bulgakova (Germany), Noah Fischer (USA), Artur Żmijewski (Poland), Olia Sosnovskaya (Belarus), Valentyna Petrova, Mykola Ridnyi (Ukraine) and many others.

The Kyiv International also included the launch of the experimental music platform “Radio International,” in addition to a new series of events dedicated to the issues of sensory perception and the status of contemporary media. Through interacting with Biennial guests and visitors, participants in the experimental radio workshop explored the possibilities for conjunction between public and private expression. Radio International continues to release voice collages, interviews, and special editions created from the materials gathered during the Biennial. Listen to the Radio International by clicking this link. Be sure to follow updates at their Facebook page.

The Kyiv International closed with the performance “Petition against Death” by the world-renowned French artist ORLAN.

The Kyiv International parallel program took place at various art centers and cultural institutions in Prague, Vienna, Paris, Amsterdam, and Madrid.

“The Kyiv International Guidebook,” consisting of texts by historians, political philosophers and artists – including Biennial participants – is due to be published soon.

Nearly all of The Kyiv International – Kyiv Biennial 2017 events were documented. Videos are available on the official VCRC Youtube channel, photos – on Flickr.

The Kyiv International project will continue in Spring 2018, as announced at the closing of the Kyiv Biennial 2017.

Follow further announcements on the Visual Culture Research Center website and in social networks:
vcrc.org.ua
facebook.com/vcrc.org.ua
instagram.com/vcrc.org.ua

Organized by Visual Culture Research Center (Kyiv, Ukraine).

Institutional Partners: Avtonomi Akadimia (Athens, Greece), BURSA Gallery (Kyiv, Ukraine), Columbia Global Centers | Paris (France), DAAD Artists-in-Berlin Program (Berlin, Germany), De Balie (Amsterdam, the Netherlands), Depo (Istanbul, Turkey), Depot (Vienna, Austria), documenta 14 (Athens/Kassel, Greece/Germany), European Alternatives (Paris, France), Forum Transregionale Studien (Berlin, Germany), Hromadske TV (Kyiv, Ukraine), Institute for Human Sciences (Vienna, Austria), Medusa Books (Kyiv, Ukraine), National Oleksandr Dovzhenko Center (Kyiv, Ukraine), Political Critique (Warsaw, Poland), Shedhalle (Zurich, Switzerland), Studio 14 (Athens, Greece), Transeuropa Festival 2017 (Madrid, Spain), tranzit.cz (Prague, Czech Republic).

Partners: British Council / Delegation of the European Union to Ukraine, Charles Stewart Mott Foundation, ERSTE Foundation, European Cultural Foundation, International Renaissance Foundation, Robert Bosch Foundation.

The Kyiv International – Kyiv Biennial 2017, Program for the Final Week of Events

November 22 – 26, Wednesday – Sunday

Wednesday, November 22, at 19:00 a screening and discussion of the film The New Internationale: Below and Above the Nation will take place at the Institute of Scientific, Technical and Economic Information (“UFO”, 180 Antonovycha St., metro Lybidska) with Lorenzo Marsili (Italy), an author, political activist, and cofounder of European Alternatives; Oliver Ressler (Austria), an artist whose joint work with Marina Naprushkina in the exhibition “Dead Souls” is currently on display at the Visual Culture Research Center within the framework of The Kyiv International – Kyiv Biennial 2017; and You Mi (China), a curator, researcher and academic at the Academy of Media Arts Cologne. Ranging from art to politics, from theory to grassroots practices—we will continue to discuss possible paths towards a post-national future.

Thursday, November 23, at 16:00 at the Institute of Scientific, Technical and Economic Information (“UFO”, 180 Antonovycha St., metro Lybidska) participants and initiators of Studio 14 and Shedhalle projects (Greece/Switzerland/Italy/Poland/Germany) will gather with Ukrainian participants to discuss the idea of a “common lexicon for Europe.” Engaging with a constellation of issues that haunt contemporary political discourse — such as borders and migration, languages and translation, traditions and prophecies — this workshop will interweave prior research conducted in Athens, Greece within the contexts of Ukraine and Eastern Europe. Connecting the southern peripheries of (non-)Europe with its Eastern fringes, the workshop aims to establish a common ground and a common language in order to constitute the lexicon for times to come.

At 19:00 at the Institute of Scientific, Technical and Economic Information(“UFO”, 180 Antonovycha St., metro Lybidska) the final film screening in the “Ukrainian Revolutionary Cinema Avant-Garde Series” will take place: “Perekop”(1930) by Ivan Kavaleridze.

Friday, November 24, at 19:00 there will be a presentation of the Ukrainian translation of the book On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century, by Timothy Snyder at the Institute of Scientific, Technical and Economic Information (“UFO”, 180 Antonovycha St., metro Lybidska) with the editor of the Ukrainian edition, Kateryna Mishchenko, and journalist Angelina Kariakina (Ukraine). This book by Timothy Snyder, Professor of History at Yale University, is a timely textbook designed for a broad audience that supplies laconic insights into the history of the 20^th century. The author draws attention to global trends in shrinking democracy, as well as the role of civil responsibility.

Saturday, November 25, at 15:00 the curator, architect, and participants of the exhibition “Market” will lead a guided tour around the exhibit at Zhytniy Market.The buildings of Ukrainian indoor markets, constructed in the 1960s–1980s, are unique monuments to late modernism. However, these structures are not formally recognized by Ukrainian law and are thus vulnerable to devastating renovations. The purpose of the “Market” project is to draw attention to these buildings as newly discovered monuments. This site-specific project draws explicit attention to its location, Zhytniy Market, which was constructed in 1980 in the so-called Soviet International style.

Participants of the Exhibition Include: Dana Kosmina, Nikita Kadan, Volodymyr Kuznetsov, Ksenia Hnylytska, Oleksandr Burlaka, Oleksiy Bykov, David Chichkan (Ukraine), Sergey Shabokhin (Belarus). Curated by Hanna Tsyba. Exhibition display by Dana Kosmina.

At 19:00 at the Institute of Scientific, Technical and Economic Information(“UFO”, 180 Antonovycha St., metro Lybidska) there will be a screening of the film “Glimpse” (2016–17) by Artur Żmijewski (Poland), an artist, filmmaker and curator, followed by a discussion with the author. This film was shot in the so-called “Jungles” – the most well-known European refugee camp in Calais (France). Before being dispersed by the French authorities, the “Jungles” had become a shelter for nearly ten thousand people, almost as if it were a separate city. Surviving in tents and self-made houses, its inhabitants settled into “neighborhoods” in accordance with the country of their origin – Syria, Pakistan, Afghanistan, etc. Most had survived war, violence, the loss of their families, and dangerous journies. Before the eviction of the camp, its residents organized themselves in order to defend their temporary home.

The Kyiv International – Kyiv Biennial 2017 will close with the performance “Petition against Death” by the world known artist ORLAN (France). The performance will take place on Sunday, November 26, at 15:00 at the Institute of Scientific, Technical and Economic Information (“UFO”, 180 Antonovycha St., metro Lybidska).

ORLAN is one of the most famous French artists known internationally. She is a major figure in the field of body art and “carnal art,” as she once defined it in her 1989 manifesto. ORLAN uses her own body as the medium and subject for her artistic practice. She creates sculptures, photographs, performances, videos and videogames, augmented reality, using scientific and medical techniques such as surgery and biogenetics. Always mixed with humor, parody or even the grotesque, her provocative artworks are often shocking because of how she shakes up pre-conceived codes and ideas.

During the closing of The Kyiv International – Kyiv Biennial 2017 ORLAN will present the performance “Petition against Death” in two parts: a street action (with 30 local participants) and a live act in the concert hall of the Institute of Scientific, Technical and Economic Information, “UFO.”

Admission is free.

Organized by Visual Culture Research Center (Kyiv, Ukraine).

The Kyiv International – Kyiv Biennial 2017 Program, Week 4

November 13–19, Monday – Sunday

Monday, November 13, at 19:00 at the Institute of Scientific, Technical and Economic Information, “UFO” (180 Antonovycha St., Lybidska Metro) the British artist Paul Chaneywill talk about his project entitled “Donetsk Syndrome Diagrammatic.” Between 2011 and 2014 Chaney researched the history of Donetsk attempting to understand the local conditions of the city as a node within a universal geological reality. The resulting work consists of a 160-meter diagram which describes the city solely as a continuum of materials. The diagram tells the story of each chemical element necessary for the commercial production of coal and iron – from the beginning of the universe, to the current war. Installation of the work in Donetsk was abandoned when the war began, and the work took on a specific cadence, as the socio/political factors the work attempted to understand in this new way were now acting as agents upon the work itself. Admission is free.

Tuesday, November 14, at 16:00 at Pavlo Tychyna Literary-Memorial Museum-Apartment (5 Tereshchenkivska St., ap. 1, 3, metro Teatralna) the curators will give aguided tour of “The Festivities Are Cancelled!” exhibition. The exhibition presents artistic works about the phenomenon of the collective forgetfulness, censorship practices, images of historical time and revolutionary gestures, social creativity will. The exhibit at Pavlo Tychyna Museum-Apartment includes archive materials from the Soviet censorship cases, as well as selected examples of censorship practices in contemporary Ukraine and on post-Soviet space. Curators, participants and members of the curatorial group Hudrada will comment on their exhibitional decisions. Visitors will have a unique opportunity to see the complete exhibit, which will be transformed afterwards. Admission is free.

At 19:00 at the Institute of Scientific, Technical and Economic Information, “UFO” (180 Antonovycha St., Lybidska Metro) the “Snapshots from Future Occupations,” a talk by Noah Fischer (USA), will take place. Brooklyn-based artist Noah Fischer connects his studio practice, writing and organizing with social and economic justice movements. As initiating member of Occupy Museums and Global Ultra Luxury Faction he focuses on inequity propagated by cultural institutions. His work includes long-term theatrical collaboration with Berlin-based andcompany&Co. His work has been seen at the Guggenheim, MoMA, in the 56th Venice Biennale, 7th Berlin Biennale and 2017 Whitney Biennial. Admission is free.

Wednesday, November 15, at 19:00 at the Institute of Scientific, Technical and Economic Information, “UFO” (180 Antonovycha St., Lybidska Metro) there will be a meeting with Florian Yuriev, the “UFO” architect, artist and composer, as well as the first public discussion of the UkrISTEI building renovation project that may turn it into part of the Ocean Mall shopping and entertainment center. Discussion participants: Oksen Lisovyi, vice president of the Minor Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, initiator of the Museum of Science project in UkrISTEI building; Bohdan Shkrohal, author of the UkrISTEI renovation project; representatives of the Ukrainian National Union of Architects and “Kyivproekt” institute; Borys Blazhennyi and Oleksiy Astakhov, who renovated the original sound system of UkrISTEI’s lecture hall. Admission is free.

Thursday, November 16, at 19:00 the screening of “The Self-Seeker,” (1928) a film byMykola Shpykovsky, will take place within the “Ukrainian Revolutionary Cinema Avant-Garde Series.” Admission is free.

Friday, November 17, at 19:00 a screening of “No! No! No!” and a premiere of “Armed and Dangerous,” film and mini-series by artist Mykola Ridnyi (Ukraine), will take place at the Institute of Scientific, Technical and Economic Information, “UFO” (180 Antonovycha St., Lybidska Metro). The “No! No! No!” protagonists are young Kharkiv residents whose early twenties coincided with the beginning of war in the neighboring Donbass. They all react to political events and comprehend them through specific relations with the urban space and social media reality. “Armed and Dangerous” is a mini-series shot with the smartphone. Its theme is a general militarization of Ukrainian society and particularly the youth’s view on violence and weapons. The author reflects both on the depictions of the fragile social condition and different modes of the moving image originating from the internet and film industry. Short scenes of parties and random urban situations with the author and his friends are combined with footage of political radicals found on the internet, or with episodes from historical films. The screening will be followed by a discussion with the author. Admission is free.

At 23:00 at Otel’ night club (31 Nyzhnioyurkivska Street, Tarasa Shevchenka Metro) a techno party OraCool #2 will take place. The line-up features Mama Snake, a DJ from Copenhagen, supported by the locals Adelina, Karine and Ponura. Entrance fee: 100 uah before midnight and 200 uah after.

Saturday, November 18, at 16:00 at Visual Culture Research Center (44 Hlybochytska Street, Kontraktova Ploshcha Metro) “Video Action,” a live performance by artist and musician Dave Phillips (Switzerland) will take place within the Radio International experimental workshop. The performance will be followed by a discussion on sonic activism, its goals and challenges, as well as of the concept of “human animal.”Admission is free.

At 19:00, “burn, on fire, alight, inflamed, glow, ablaze, fervent, go up in smoke,” a lecture performance by Olia Sosnovskaya (Belarus) will take place at the Institute of Scientific, Technical and Economic Information, “UFO” (180 Antonovycha St., Lybidska Metro). The artist explores the official Soviet and post-Soviet holidays, festivities and rituals, as well as rave culture and its political dimensions. In the lecture performance she will focus on the visual pleasure referring to the use of fireworks and torches in different contexts – from mass celebrations to protests. Admission is free.

Sunday, November 19, at 14:00 there will be “A Soundwalk on Soundscape and the City’s Rhythms,” a field recordings workshop by Elia Moretti (Czech Republic) dedicated to sonic landscape and rhythm. The workshop will take place in urban space. The meeting point is at the Institute of Scientific, Technical and Economic Information, “UFO” (180 Antonovycha St., Lybidska Metro). Admission is free.

At 18:30 at the Institute of Scientific, Technical and Economic Information, “UFO” (180 Antonovycha St., Lybidska Metro) within the Radio International experimental workshop there will be a lecture by Elia Moretti (Czech Republic) entitled “To Listen to a Place” focused on the ecological approach to sound. Admission is free.

At 20:00 within the Radio International experimental workshop a concert “Mutations” byDave Phillips (Switzerland) will take place at the Institute of Scientific, Technical and Economic Information, “UFO” (180 Antonovycha St., Lybidska Metro). It is a study of the spatial and temporal relations between the senses of people and insects. Admission is free.

Organized by Visual Culture Research Center (Kyiv, Ukraine).

The Kyiv International – Kyiv Biennial 2017 Program, Week 3

November 7 – 12, Tuesday – Sunday

Radio International presents “Maidan Walk,” an audio tour by Pic Pic that will begin on Tuesday, November 7, at 14:00 near “Universytet” metro station and last until 15:30. “Maidan. Walk” is the story of Masha, a student of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy. In the fall semester of 2013, on the night of December 11, instead of studying for an exam in Soviet history, she spent the evening in the tent city at the center of Kyiv’s Maidan revolution resisting onslaught by the police. Single ticket price: 200 uah (for students and seniors – 150 uah). Tickets are available online after the registration or at Vagabond Cafe: 7, Skovorody Street. Please present some form of ID.

Tuesday, November 7, at 19:00 at the Institute of Scientific, Technical and Economic Information, “UFO” (180 Antonovycha St., Lybidska Metro) the premiere of Play, a performance by Valentyna Petrova (Ukraine) will take place. Exploring the textual frames and power relations hidden in speech, Play works with expressions of intimacy, neglecting the common for the sake of equal inclusion of all participants into the realm of utterance. Admission is free.

Wednesday, November 8, at 19:00 there will be a presentation of the Ukrainian translation of Judith Butler’s book Frames of War: When is Life Grievable? at the Institute of Scientific, Technical and Economic Information, “UFO” (180 Antonovycha St., Lybidska Metro) with the editor of the Ukrainian edition Kateryna Mishchenko, translator Yustyna Kravchuk and journalist Kateryna Sergatskova(Ukraine). In Frames of War Butler, one of the key figures in gender theory and contemporary philosophy, analyses Western forms of warfare exploring, in particular, the ways in which the media represent state violence. The very understanding of human life depends on this representation, as being in accordance with a certain frame it can be considered both worth and not worth living. Admission is free.

Thursday, November 9, at 19:00 the screening of “The Eleventh Year,” (1928) a film by Dzyga Vertov, will take place within the “Ukrainian Revolutionary Cinema Avant-Garde Series.” Admission is free.

Friday, November 10, at 17:00 in his “Final Fantasy II – 21 Translations of Purpose in Japanese – 喜怒哀楽 Kidoairaku (Joy-Furious-Sadness-Pleasure)” an artist Hiroshi McDonald Mori (Japan) will consider the formal and structural methodologies in which Japanese society imports and exports an assortment of culture and ideology – from Ukiyo-e, 浮世絵 ,or, world of floating pictures, to Manga, RPG, mythology and the diverse religions of Japan. Admission is free.

At 19:00 at BURSA GALLERY (11-B Kostyantynivska St., metro Kontraktova Ploshcha) the opening of the group exhibition “Dance, Dance, Dance” will take place. The image of the rave, buried in the late nineties, was recently resurrected, now farther East than East Berlin. Kyiv is proclaimed to be one of its monasteries, newly discovered by western pilgrims, together with a riot, the square, democracy and all else that lies North of the Wall. The New East, a unique politico-poetic formation of freedom and vital energy, has become a reference point for those seeking life outside the fortress of the old world.

Dance, Dance, Dance, a research exhibition on the techno-rave renaissance and its effects, will focus on the political cartography of youth cultures, the mythologization of the vast space outside the E.U., and the production of a new territory-based concept of the New East, which is attempting to grasp the former Soviet states and the countries of the Warsaw Pact, working both within its manifestations in the metropole and its local reception. Locating the self-proclaimed “new Berlins,” the exhibition will take a look at the dance scene as a luminous symptom of social and political processes outside narrow definitions of Europe.

Participants: Mishka Bochkarёv (Ukraine), Maria Gorodeckaya (United Kingdom), Sergei Nikitin (Ukraine), Ihor Okuniev (Ukraine), Anna Ročňová (Czech Repurlic), Kirill Savchenkov (Russia), Aleksei Taruts (Russia), Vova Vorotniov (Ukraine), Yarema Malashchuk and Roman Himey (Ukraine).

Curated by Serge Klymko.

The exhibition will last until December 11 and will be open on Tuesday– Sunday from 12:00 until 20:00.

Saturday, November 11, at 12:00 at BURSA GALLERY (11-B Kostyantynivska St., metro Kontraktova Ploshcha) within the framework of the “Dance, Dance, Dance” exhibition there will be “Healthy Life: Beyond Your Wildest Dreams,” a music performance by Aleksei Taruts, a Russian artist who works with performative and situational practices that utilize musical forms as means of expression, and a way to question symbolic and cultural exchange. Admission is free.

13:00—19:00 the “mocumenta” project will be presented at the art workshop at 33 Soshenko Street. Soshenko 33 participated in documenta 14 as an artist collective and alternative space. In August 2017, there was a Soshenko 33 residency at Tokonoma space in Kassel in which they participated in the “Title on the Spot” project together with collectives from Kosovo, Belgium and Switzerland. These projects are collaborative practices, as well as an attempt to create a common “field” between collectives and initiatives emerging out of different contexts. Participants include: Mitya Churikov, Oleksandr Dolhiy, Dobrynia Ivanov, Taras Kovach, Natalia Matsenko, Anna Sorokovaya, Alina Yakubenko, Yuriy Yefanov (Ukraine). Admission is free.

Sunday, November 12, at 14:00 there will be an audio tour by Pic Pic (Ukraine) within the experimental radio workshop, “The Case of Mendel Beilis.” In 1911 – 1913, there was a court case brought in Kyiv against Mendel Beilis, a clerk at a brick factory, for the killing of Andrei Yushchinsky, a 12-year-old boy. The accusation emphasized the ritual nature of the killing and imputed the desire to kill a Christian boy to Beilis, a Jew. This case was initiated by right-wing organizations (the Black Hundreds) and, despite experts and witnesses insisting on the absurdity of the accusation, was supported by a number of influential politicians in the Russian Empire. The tour will start at Zhovten cinema (26 Konstiantynivska St., metro Kontraktova Ploshcha). Single ticket price: 200 uah (for students and seniors – 150 uah). Tickets are available online after the registration or at Vagabond cafe: 7, Skovorody Street. Please present some form of ID.

17:00 at the Institute of Scientific, Technical and Economic Information, “UFO”(180 Antonovycha St., Lybidska Metro) there will be a film screening of the documentary Parko, about a car park that was converted into a green, fiery, and subversive space in the heart of Athens. The event includes a talk with the author of the film, artist and activist Clara Stella Hüneke (Berlin/Athens), entitled, “From Parking Space to Park.” The discussion will feature encounters between continuous and symbolic protest, specifically how neighbourhood grassroot groups merge with riots. Admission is free.

19:00 at the Institute of Scientific, Technical and Economic Information, “UFO” (180 Antonovycha St., Lybidska Metro) there will be a talk by Ioulia Mermigka(Greece), a researcher and adjunct lecturer in Film and Cultural Studies in the Media Department of the University of Athens, entitled, “An Ethico-Aesthetic Paradigm against Nihilist Desire in the Social Field: The Greek Case and the Murder of Pavlos Fyssas.” The lecture will apply the theory of macro and micro politics of desire, nihilist lines of flight, and the notion of cancerous Bodies Without Organs by Deleuze and Guattari in the context of modern Greek history and contemporary nihilist strains in Greek society. The talk aims to promote a dialogue on the similarities and differences between the Greek and Ukrainian cases. Admission is free.

Organized by Visual Culture Research Center (Kyiv, Ukraine).

The Kyiv International – Kyiv Biennial 2017 Program, Week 2

November 1–5, Wednesday – Sunday

On Wednesday, November 1, at 19:00 there will be a discussion, “Krytyka Polityczna Athens” by Katja Ehrhardt (AthenSYN) and Joulia Strauss (Avtonomi Akadimia) (Greece/Germany). Katja Ehrhardt will present her artistic research project entitled, “Universitas,” which is an educational model for a community of teachers and learners that transcends national and sociopolitical borders. Artists from Syria, Greece, and Germany came together with Athenians and migrants in workshops in Athens’ refugee camps and the venues of the Athens Biennale. The project poses the following question: What can we all learn from the refugee “crisis”? Joulia Strauss will present her project Avtonomi Akadimia and share her experience of the transformation of the educational system of Europe, presenting educational formats and practices as the next step in furthering activist art.

At 20:00, the artist Marta Madej (Poland/Germany) will present “In Memoriam Zygmunt Bauman,” in honor of the famous sociologist and philosopher Zygmunt Bauman (1925-2017), who passed away this year.

On Thursday, November 2, at 19:00 there will be a screening of the film “In Spring” (1929) by Mikhail Kaufman within the “Ukrainian Revolutionary Cinema Avant-Garde Series.”

On Friday, November 3, at 17:00 the artist and director Helmut Batista (Brazil) will give a talk entitled, “Deep Hanging Out” in which he will discuss CAPACETE – a program he founded in Rio de Janeiro in 1998 that includes an annual residency, seminar, publications, bookstore and much more.

At 19:00 there will be the “Acoustic Weapons: From the Walls of Jericho to the GitMo Playlist,” a performance by sound artist Sebastian Bayse Schäfer (Germany) featuring audio and video material in its most sinister forms, raising the question: Can sound actually kill someone?

On Saturday, November 4, at 16:00 in “Dread Nought! Fear not – in the Age of Anxiety” artists Judith Holzer & Marcel Schobel (Germany) will discuss their open Book Project in which they are collecting and sampling texts and images from various sources in order to formulate a new language.

At 19:00 the philosopher and cultural theorist Mikhail Ryklin (Germany) will deliver a lecture, “The Fiasco of World Revolution,” based on his latest book Doomed Icarus: Red October from a Family Perspective (2017), written ahead of the centennial of the October Revolution. In his book and lecture, Mykhail Ryklin explores how this event has influenced his family’s history. The author’s grand-uncle, Nikolai Chaplin, was one of the leaders of the Communist Youth League in 1924-1928, when the October Revolution was seen as nothing more than the first step towards a world revolution. After their hopes collapsed, Nikolai and his friends (Lazar Shatskin, Beso Lominadze, Alexander Kosarev) became victims of the Great Terror. The author’s grandfather, Sergei Chaplin, was a Soviet intelligence officer and was arrested in the case against his older brother. He served time in Leningrad’s Kresty Prison and Kolyma mine labor camp before his execution.

On Sunday, November 5, the artists and founders of the “Pirate Cinema” anti-copyright movement Jan Gerber and Sebastian Lütgert (Germany) will deliver the talk, “Pirate Cinema and New Forms of Action Against Politics and Art,” and three screenings:

14:00 Revolution 1 (French): Chris Marker, Gaspard Glanz, Ute Holl, Peter Ott, et al.
17:00 Revolution 2 (October): Kira Muratova, Peter Cherkasky, Artavazd Peleshian, Ken Jacobs, et al.
20:00 Revolution 3 (Digital): Dzyga Vertov, Alfred Hitchcock, Jean-Luc Godard, Philippe Grandrieux, et al.

Organized by Visual Culture Research Center (Kyiv, Ukraine).

The Kyiv International – Kyiv Biennial 2017: Program of the first week

23 – 29 October

On Wednesday, 25 October, at 18:00 the opening of the second segment of the “The Festivities are Cancelled!” exhibition will take place at Pavlo Tychyna Literary-Memorial Museum-Apartment (5 Tereshchenkivska St., ap. 1, 3, metro Teatralna).

The exhibition “The Festivities are Cancelled!” is dedicated to the memory of revolution and the phenomenon of censorship. This exhibition is necessitated not so much by the centennial of the revolutionary events of 1917 – as by the relevance of a conversation about revolutionary impulses, the writing of history, and the formation of collective memory.

During times of crisis, in a society living through war, censorship and self-censorship can seem like the only natural defense mechanisms against aggressors. While a revolutionary gesture asserts the potential for collective polyphonic social creativity, censorship seeks an unambiguous picture of the world, as if created by a single authoritarian entity.

Exhibition Participants: Emanuel Almborg (Sweden), Yana Bachynska, Babi Badalov (France), Yevgenia Belorusets, Davyd Chychkan, Nikita Kadan, Zhanna Kadyrova, Volodymyr Kuznetsov, Lesia Khomenko, Pavel Khailo, Vasyl Lozynski, Larion Lozovoy, Yuri Leiderman, Lada Nakonechna, Deimantas Narkevičius (Lithuania), Vlada Ralko, Oleksandr Ranchukov, Р.Е.П. group, Andriy Sagaydakovsky, Sergey Shabokhin (Belarus), Olia Sosnovskaya, Alexander Ugay (Kazakhstan), Leonid Voytsehov, Yana Volkova, (Belarus), Elena Vogman (Germany), Clemens von Wedemeyer (Germany), Anna Zvyagintseva.

Hours: Monday–Friday, 9:00–17:00, Saturday–Sunday, 10:00–18:00.

The exhibition will take place until November 26.

Enter by museum ticket

On Thursday, October 26, at 19:00 the screening of the film “Arsenal” (1928) by Oleksandr Dovzhenko from the “Ukrainian Revolutionary Cinema Avant-Garde” film series will take place at the Institute of Scientific, Technical and Economic Information (“UFO”, 180 Antonovycha St., metro Lybidska).

Admission is free

On Friday, October 27, at 19:00 the exhibition “Market” will open at Zhytniy Market (16 Verkhniy Val St., metro Kontraktova Ploshcha) with “Cybele,” a new musical project by Anatoly Belov, and a concert featuring George Babanski and Eldar Ganeev.

The buildings of Ukrainian indoor markets, constructed in the 1960s–1980s, are unique monuments to late modernism. However, these structures are not formally recognized by Ukrainian law and are thus vulnerable to devastating renovations. The purpose of the “Market” project is to draw attention to these buildings as newly discovered monuments by exploring the history of their architecture, and by reflecting on the contexts of their creation and existence in the past, present and future. The exhibition will take place at the Kyiv Zhytniy Market, which was constructed in 1980 in the so-called International style.

Participants: Dana Kosmina, Nikita Kadan, Volodymyr Kuznetsov, Ksenia Hnylytska, Oleksandr Burlaka, Oleksiy Bykov, David Chichkan (Ukraine), Sergey Shabokhin (Belarus).

Curator – Hanna Tsyba

Architect – Dana Kosmina

The exhibition will remain open daily, except Monday, during Zhytniy Market working hours – 9:00–19:00.

Admission is free

On Saturday, October 28, 19:00 at the Institute of Scientific, Technical and Economic Information (“UFO”, 180 Antonovycha St., metro Lybidska) there will be a Lecture “Voice and the Traces of Time” by Oksana Bulgakova, film theorist and Professor at Guthenberg University.

Admission is free

On Sunday, October 29, at 19:00 at Institute of Scientific, Technical and Economic Information (“UFO”, 180 Antonovycha St., metro Lybidska) there will be a discussion “Art Censorship and Resistance Experiences in Turkey Under the State of Emergency” with Asena Günal and Özlem Altunok (Turkey). Asena Günal is a co-founder of Siyah Bant, a research platform that documents censorship in the arts in Turkey. Özlem Altunok is a coordinator at Susma, a platform founded in 2016 to monitor cases of censorship and self-censorship, especially in arts and media, and to raise awareness and create a network of solidarity in the face of restrictions on freedom of expression. Altunok is also a content editor at Art Unlimited, a bimonthly journal of contemporary art.

Admission is free

Organized by Visual Culture Research Center (Kyiv, Ukraine).

The opening of The Kyiv International – Kyiv Biennial 2017

The opening of The Kyiv International – Kyiv Biennial 2017 will take place during three days and will include the opening of “The Festivities Are Cancelled!” exhibition and lecture performance by Philip Rizk on Friday, October 20, the opening of the “Dead Souls” exhibition on Saturday, October 21, the screening of the film “Ceremony” by Phil Collins, and a live performance by Pharmakon on Sunday, October 22.

The Kyiv International – Kyiv Biennial 2017 will start on the 20^th of October at 19:00 with the opening of the exhibition “The Festivities Are Cancelled!” at the Biennial’s main site, Institute of Scientific, Technical and Economic Information (“UFO”, 180 Antonovycha St., metro Lybidska) along with the lecture performance “TO GO VISITING – an agitka by Philip Rizk” (Egypt) at 20:00 at the same location.

Soviet censorship – authoritarian, restrictive and deadly – took the place of revolutionary ideas, using as cover the mission to protect against counterrevolution. Its expansion to all areas of public life meant an end to paradoxical foresight and attempts to freely design a new society. A democratic revolution allows for the most diverse, and sometimes contradictory, ideas and interpretations of the past and present to enter the public space. Its expansion to all areas of public life has meant an end to paradoxical foresight, and attempts to freely design a new society. Censorship – street-level, grassroots and state-sponsored – destroys the public space, making discussion pointless. After all, its goal is not only to eliminate undesirable opinions, but to embed self-censorship as a pre-emptive practice.

Exhibition Participants: Emanuel Almborg (Sweden), Yana Bachynska, Babi Badalov (France), Yevgenia Belorusets, Nikita Kadan, Zhanna Kadyrova, Volodymyr Kuznetsov, Lesia Khomenko, Pavel Khailo, Vasyl Lozynski, Larion Lozovoy, Yuri Leiderman, Lada Nakonechna, Deimantas Narkevičius (Lithuania), Vlada Ralko, Oleksandr Ranchukov, Р.Е.П. group, Andriy Sagaydakovsky, Sergey Shabokhin (Belarus), Olia Sosnovskaya, Alexander Ugay (Kazakhstan), Leonid Voytsehov, Yana Volkova, (Belarus), Elena Vogman (Germany), Clemens von Wedemeyer (Germany), Anna Zvyagintseva.

The second part of “The Festivities Are Cancelled!” exhibition will open on October 25 at the Pavlo Tychyna Literary-Memorial Museum-Apartment.

The exhibition will last October 25–November 26. Hours: Tuesday – Sunday, 12:00 – 20:00. Monday – closed.

On Friday, at 20:00 the lecture performance “TO GO VISITING – an agitka by Philip Rizk” will take place at the “UFO.” Philip Rizk (Egypt) will present his text in the form of diary of the fictional character Aleksandra Berkman (her prototype is a Russian anarchist – Alexandr Berkman, 1870 – 1936) for the first time in Ukraine, the location of some of the historical events it references. In the summer of 2017, Philip Rizk undertook a journey following in the footsteps of Berkman’s fictional travel route along the former Berlin-Baghdad railway line to the Turkish-Syrian border, in the process continuing Berkman’s travelogue.

On Saturday, October 21, at 19:00 the exhibition “Dead Souls” by Marina Naprushkina (Germany) and Oliver Ressler (Austria) will open at Visual Culture Research Center (44 Hlybochytska St., trams #14, #18 from metro Kontraktova Ploshcha).

In the exhibit “Dead Souls” Marina Naprushkina presents a wall painting depicting the enlargement of the borders of the EU as well as key provisions within EU asylum and migration policy. The European Union has been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for six decades of successful reconciliation policy. But what kind of peace is the EU brokering? The EU’s failed asylum policy often leads to serious economic and social inequalities. Winning over the marketplace in refugees’ countries of origin takes precedence over the free movement of persons. The borders are so sealed, in fact, that asylum seekers are oftentimes hardly able to reach “the safe shore.”

Oliver Ressler focuses on struggles to obtain citizenship while, at the same time, questioning the implicitly exclusionary nature of the concept. “The Right of Passage” film (2013) is partially constructed through a series of interviews with Ariella Azoulay, Antonio Negri and Sandro Mezzadra. The title of the film refers to the stages, or “rites of passage” that mark important transitions on the path to selfhood. The exchange of “rites” with “rights” suggests that freedom of movement must become a right granted to every person – regardless of his or her place of birth. In his “Occupy, Resist, Produce” (2014) film series Ressler investigates the rare cases of occupied factories, which have become a means of workers’ struggle against the closure of a production site or company, or the relocation of production to another country.

The exhibition will last until November 26. Working hours: Tuesday – Sunday, 12:00 – 20:00. Monday – closed.

On Sunday, October 22, at 16:00 the screening and discussion of the film “Ceremony” (2017) by Phil Collins (Germany) will take place at Institute of Scientific, Technical and Economic Information, “UFO.”

In July 2017, the almost 4-meter-high Soviet statue of Friedrich Engels was removed from public view in Maryanivka village (Poltava region) as part of the process of decommunization. Phil Collins, a director and playwright, initiated the relocation of the monument to Manchester and its permanent installation in the city where Friedrich Engels had lived for over 20 years. During the Manchester international festival the crowded opening of the Engels monument took place. The “Ceremony” film by Phil Collins depicts the opening and relocation of the statue to Great Britain.

Admission to the exhibitions and screening is free.

On Sunday, October 22, at 21:00 the live performance by Pharmakon (USA), rising stars in the contemporary experimental music scene, will take place at the Institute of Scientific, Technical, and Economic Information (“UFO”) concert hall – a late modernist masterpiece, built to synthesize acoustic and visual perception in the arts. Admission by ticket.

Organized by Visual Culture Research Center (Kyiv, Ukraine).

Emblem and Biennial Design: Experimental Jetset (Amsterdam, the Netherlands).

Institutional Partners: Avtonomi Akadimia (Athens, Greece), BURSA GALLERY (Kyiv, Ukraine), Columbia Global Centers | Paris (France), DAAD Artists-in-Berlin Program (Berlin, Germany), De Balie (Amsterdam, the Netherlands), Depo (Istanbul, Turkey), Depot (Vienna, Austria), documenta 14 (Athens/Kassel, Greece/Germany), European Alternatives (Paris, France), Forum Transregionale Studien (Berlin, Germany), Hromadske TV (Kyiv, Ukraine), Institute for Human Sciences (Vienna, Austria), Medusa Books (Kyiv, Ukraine), National Oleksandr Dovzhenko Center (Kyiv, Ukraine), Political Critique (Warsaw, Poland), Shedhalle (Zurich, Switzerland), Studio 14 (Athens, Greece), Transeuropa Festival 2017 (Madrid, Spain), tranzit.cz (Prague, Czech Republic).

Partners: British Council / Delegation of the European Union to Ukraine, Charles Stewart Mott Foundation, ERSTE Foundation, European Cultural Foundation, International Renaissance Foundation, Robert Bosch Foundation.

The Kyiv International – Kyiv Biennial 2017

Visual Culture Research Center announces the new edition of the Kyiv Biennial – The Kyiv International 2017 that will take place October 20 – November 26, 2017.

The Kyiv International – Kyiv Biennial 2017 project aims to explore and reveal the emancipatory potential of the idea of the political International, which emerged in Europe. Today, in the age of structural crisis of global institutions — when the maintenance of a transnational status quo is constructed from violated borders, peripheral wars, and the emergence of new walls and conflicts — the idea of cross-border unity and international solidarity is of utmost urgency for the future survival of Europe.

Ukraine and the countries of the European Union share a great number of challenges and threats today. Ukraine has recently weathered several powerful new experiences: enthusiasm and disappointment at the Maidan revolution, the shock of war, ongoing infractions to established territorial parameters and protection mechanisms, and the mass displacement of people, whilst the EU has experienced increasing flows of refugees, the shrinking of its territory after Brexit, and the rise of far-right populism, becoming a battlefield for new forms of terrorism. The absence of ready-made patterns for dealing with these experiences, discontent with preexisting structures, along with a strong desire and urgent need for change, provide a conduit for an intense intellectual and creative search for the new.

We are confronted with the most pressing questions of our time by the ongoing war conflicts in Eastern Europe and the Middle East: how to maintain safe, sustainable, free societies when both the state and international mechanisms to do so are currently proving ineffective? What forms could a new and efficient international solidarity take? What kinds of sensibilities, conceptual structures, and pathways for thinking and imagining should we develop? What might the basis for the new International become, and who are its subjects?

The Kyiv International − Kyiv Biennial 2017 will take place in the format of an international forum for art and knowledge, integrating art projects with a number of institutional collaborations to create agoras for debate. Lectures, panel discussions, seminars, and workshops led by well-known historians, philosophers, economists, and practitioners in the cultural sector will converge upon artistic and intellectual pursuits for critical answers to common concerns, while a number of exhibitions will lend an alternative optics to urgent contemporary issues through the medium of the visual arts. A program of free thematic public events will also address the political, social, economic, and historical circumstances in today’s Ukraine and Europe, as well as on a global scale.

The Kyiv International − Kyiv Biennial 2017 will explore different historical forms and contemporary examples of Internationals that took place in the arts, culture, and educational spheres by investigating their methodological and communicative approaches together with their ability to imagine and create new political formats. Major emphasis will be put on the aesthetic and political relevance of modernism today, which carries a high degree of latent potential for thinking and inventing alternative societal projects critically needed worldwide at this moment. Originating in Europe, modernism spread around the globe throughout the 20^th century, demonstrating the capability of being local and global at the same time, while still preserving its national particularities, along with the development of its international universality. As an unfinished project open to the future, the modernist heritage within contemporary cultural and political practices can indicate a possible exit strategy from the political deadlock of economic crisis, nationalist populisms, and war.

The Kyiv International − Kyiv Biennial 2017 is meant to function as a translation machine in a political sense – a vehicle by which to transmit local social practices and political experiences internationally, thereby constructing common tools to work with and build upon. An international political language that can define our new lexicon, map the affects that drive us, and let us express ourselves relevantly while constituting our shared points of interest, remains one of the key issues at stake today. Common European space requires a common European vocabulary to provide a basis and a platform for understanding our varied experiences, and to reflect upon possible solutions to our political problems, without hiding social reality. The Kyiv International biennial, as a laboratory of political translation, contributes in this manner to the development of a newly emerging collective subjectivity grounded in democratic internationalism.

Developing out of the structures and institutional strategies of The School of Kyiv − Kyiv Biennial 2015, The Kyiv International 2017 aims to establish collaborations between civil society organizations, cultural centers, art institutions, and academia on an international basis. Realizing the biennial format as a multi-institutional political framework on an international scale, The Kyiv International − Kyiv Biennial 2017 will model an institutional International, creating sustainable networks for collaboration and a space for solidarity and support that is sorely missing in the field of politics today.

Locations:

Main Site: Institute of Scientific, Technical and Economic Information (“UFO”, 180 Antonovycha St., metro Lybidska).

Visual Culture Research Center (44 Hlybochytska St., trams #14, #18 from metro Kontraktova Ploshcha).

Zhytniy Market (16 Verkhniy Val St., metro Kontraktova Ploshcha).

BURSA GALLERY (11-B Kostyantynivska St., metro Kontraktova Ploshcha).

Pavlo Tychyna Literary-Memorial Museum-Apartment (5 Tereshchenkivska St., ap. 1, 3, metro Teatralna).

Artists’ Studios at 33 Soshenko (33 Soshenko St., trolley bus #18 from metro Maidan Nezalezhnosti).

Organized by Visual Culture Research Center (Kyiv, Ukraine).

Emblem and biennial design: Experimental Jetset (Amsterdam, the Netherlands).

Curatorial tour and closing of GRAY CUBE exhibition

Ghenadie Popescu. The Ciorna River (2016)

Sunday, 8 October 2017, 17:00

The curator Kateryna Mishchenko will give a guided tour around Gray Cube exhibition at 17:00 (in English) and at 18:00 (in Ukrainian). The tour will be followed by a meeting with the artist Ghenadie Popescu (Moldova).

Exhibition Gray Cube focuses on the phenomenon of corruption, which is usually associated with political or sociological issues and has artistic potential. Paraphrasing, obscuring, allusions, creating secret sign systems – these forms of corrupt behavior can be perceived as artistic techniques that add fiction to the present, transforming the everyday into an absurd adventure. Placing themselves within a gray democracy and gray economy, artists examine the way the logic of corruption interweaves the social fabric. They make its anthropological, historical and aesthetic dimensions visible.

Curated by Kateryna Mishchenko

Participants: Oleksandr Burlaka, Leon Kahane, Dana Kosmina, Stanislav Menzelevsky, Anna Onufrienko, Ghenadie Popescu, Oleksiy Radynski, Hito Steyerl, Oleksandr Teliuk.

Exhibition display by Dana Kosmina

Open hours: Tuesday–Sunday, 14:00–20:00. Monday – closed.

Admission is free

Exhibition takes place within the “Bestehend” project which is a collaboration between Goethe-Institut Ukraine and Federal Agency for Civic Education and is supported by the Federal Foreign Office

Supported by ERSTE Stiftung and Charles Stewart Mott Foundation

Media partner — Hromadske.UA