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

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.