MARIUPOLONAISE BY ROSS BIRRELL FEATURING ANNA FEDOROVA
At approximately 10.00am on 16 March 2022, the Russian military conducted an airstrike on the Donetsk Academic Regional Drama Theatre in Mariupol, killing over 600 innocent civilians who were sheltering in the basement, including several children. The word ‘Children’ (Дети) had been clearly drawn in Russian on the ground outside the theatre building. The destruction of the Donetsk Academic Regional Drama Theatre has been classed as a war crime by the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe and Amnesty International.
Six months on from this atrocity, the Visual Culture Research Center, Kyiv, the Museum of Modern Art, Warsaw, the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, and the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Edinburgh, present the film Mariupolonaise (2022; Dur. 12min) by Scottish artists, Ross Birrell. The moving-image and sound work is based upon recordings of the Ukrainian pianist Anna Fedorova’s recitals at the Fryderyk Chopin Institute in Warsaw in 2010. The work is made in response to the emotional impact of Fedorova’s original performance and seeks to explore how the intensity of music and the moving-image might resonate with conditions endured in a time of war, in the wake of the Russian invasion of Ukraine on 24 February 2022. The film is dedicated to the600 victims of the Russian airstrike on the Donetsk Academic Regional Drama Theatre in Mariupol, an atrocity which was met with shock and condemnation across the world.
The film will be screened online from 10.00am local time by each collaborating institution on Friday 16 September 2022.
Watch the video here.
Visual Culture Research Center, Kyiv
Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Edinburgh
Anna Fedorova is a renowned pianist who was born in Kyiv and now lives in Amsterdam. She has recently performed Chopin’s Piano Concerto No. 2 with the Ukrainian Freedom Orchestra at Teatr Wielki-Polish National Opera, Warsaw, BBC Proms Albert Hall, London, the 75th Edinburgh International Festival, and the Metropolitan Opera House in New York.
Ross Birrell is Professor and Senior Researcher at The Glasgow School of Art. He has exhibited internationally including at Gwangju Biennale, Kunsthalle Basel, and documenta 14. He is represented by Ellen de Bruijne, Projects, Amsterdam.
The Reconstruction of Ukraine: Ruination / Representation / Solidarity
Over 40 expert Ukrainian and international speakers–architects, artists, historians, economists, poets and others–will gather this September to discuss Ukraine’s past, present and future in light of Russia’s ongoing invasion. The overall theme of the conversation will be reconstruction: broadly-conceived to refer to the rebuilding of architecture and infrastructure, but also of institutions, social bonds, individual and collective bodies and minds. The symposium is organized by a network of institutions, including the Centre for Urban History in Lviv, Urban Forms Center in Kharkiv, Kyiv Biennial / Visual Culture Research Center, ReStart Ukraine, University College London, and Yale University. The symposium will take place virtually over the course of three days from September 9−11.The official website for the symposium, along with more information about the event, can be found here: https://reconstruct.in.ua/. To register, please follow this link. Accompanying links to the symposium’s Instagram and Telegram channels can be found here.
The round table discussions held over each of the three days will range from housing, preservation, masterplanning, the political and economic challenges of reconstruction, the impact of gendered and sexual violence, remediation of the country’s psychological trauma, among many other subjects.
ARMED DEMOCRACY
July 1 – 9, 2022, 18:00 CEST, Online
Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, which put its people under mass physical and political extermination, has forced the European continent to question the very foundations of the institutional order it had been based on since the end of World War II. In the situation, when not just the future but the very present of Europe at large has appeared under direct existential threat from the Russian fascism, all the basic categories that the post-Nazi world relied on, such as democracy and authoritarianism, historicism and neocolonialism, pacifism and demonstration of protest, require a profound revision and change. The system of ideological coordinates as well as the outlines of the political spectrum we have been used to operate in are to be rearranged to tackle a new catastrophic reality.
The fundamental difference that we face in Europe at the moment between the Western approach characterized by the pursuit of peace and the Eastern one focused on liberation and independence poses a dramatic challenge – in order to survive and progress, democracy as a political regime has to be capable of defending itself also in a military way. What changes does it bring to the idea of the nation-state and the principles of internationalism? How will the notions and practices of citizenship, rule of law and human rights and freedoms be altered? In what way does it affect an economic apparatus and constitute the modus vivendi of our societies anew? How could a new political paradigm be safeguarded against imperialist and fascist misuse to prevent political and military violence by the strong against the weak?
Conceived by the Kyiv Biennial and Biennale Warszawa from the East Europe Biennial Alliance, this special public program Armed Democracy, curated by Vasyl Cherepanyn within the 2nd edition of Biennale Warszawa, revolves around the concepts of imperialism, liberation, fascism, autocracy, revolution, and militarization in pursuit of the world to come on Europe’s burnt out land. The program is a first part of the series organized by the East Europe Biennial Alliance discussing Russia’s military invasion of Ukraine and taking place in Warsaw, Prague, Kassel, and Riga over the summer and fall of 2022.
ESI – Emergency Support Initiative
Since the first days of Russia’s full-scale war against Ukraine, the Visual Culture Research Center/Kyiv Biennial has launched the Emergency Support Initiative for the members of the artistic and cultural community in Ukraine finding themselves in need. Its main goal is to support people remaining in the country and to provide them with immediate financial relief under the conditions of occupation and/or relocation.
Please find more info here: esi.kyivbiennial.org
Allied – Kyiv Biennial 2021
The fourth edition of the Kyiv Biennial, an international forum for art, knowledge and politics that integrates exhibitions and discussion platforms, will take place from October 16th to November 14th 2021. The upcoming edition – Allied – emphasizes cross-border collaboration and is jointly curated by members of the East Europe Biennial Alliance: Biennale Matter of Art Prague, Biennale Warszawa, Kyiv Biennial, OFF-Biennale Budapest and Survival Kit Festival Riga.
The diverse biennial program will address various historical forms and contemporary examples of cultural and political alliances in Eastern Europe and beyond and their ability to create new social formats. Allied – Kyiv Biennial 2021 will present a series of art projects and educational events particularly focusing on the current conditions, political factors, and institutional actors that foster new alliances in the 21st century. Once again, the Kyiv Biennial will explore the architectural context of the city and the residuals of Soviet modernism – the main location of this year’s edition will be the House of Cinema.
The Kyiv Biennial is organized by the Visual Culture Research Center. Previous editions explored the emancipatory potential of the idea of the political International, and the political and cultural role of modern information technologies as well as social transformations that have happened in Eastern Europe over the past three decades.
East Europe Biennial Alliance was established in 2019 in order to propose new forms of international solidarity, expanding socio-political imagination and alternative cultural solutions. Through connecting aesthetics and politics, the Alliance constructs a different narrative of the East European region and redefines the way cultural institutions collaborate.
Address: The House of Cinema, 6 Saksahanskoho St.
Admission to all events will be free of charge.
The project is supported by ERSTE Foundation, Foundation for Arts Initiatives, Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic, Prince Claus Fund, State Cultural Fund of the Czech Republic, Sigrid Rausing Trust, and Ukrainian Cultural Foundation.
Lecture by Matteo Spanò “Notes on Radical Radio”
Photo provided by the lecturer.
Today, both in Europe and globally, the project of alternative information and communication, one that is positioned aside of mass media and social media alike – and beyond the power relationships and cultural values they respectively engender – acquires new relevance. Distributed production, decentralized organisation and collective participation can be, and have been, powerful driving factors for many instances of radical discourse and action. The question then is how these instances come to be mediated today, and whether an “old” medium such as radio can be reconfigured and alternatively employed – through a new, common understanding of its languages and possibilities – to bring about a change within the media landscape, a “third way” towards more free and open means and spaces for communicating together.
Matteo Spanò is a researcher, musician and radio maker. His work focuses on experimental radio practice, visual poetry and sound poetry. He holds a B.A. in Electroacoustic Composition from the Paganini Conservatory, Genoa and an M.A. in Sound Studies from the UdK, Berlin. He is co-founder and deputy chairman of Cashmere Radio. Together with the electro-acoustic orchestra Galata he participated in the 58th Biennale Musica in Venice. His works have been broadcast on Cashmere Radio, Deutschlandradio Kultur, Radiophrenia, WMFU, Resonance FM, among others. He is currently a doctoral candidate at the UdK – Sound Studies with a research project on Radio Alice and free radio culture.
The event will take place on December 8 at 12:00 live, the video broadcast will be available on the Facebook page of Visual Culture Research Center.
Organized by Cashmere Radio (Berlin, Germany) and Visual Culture Research Center (Kyiv, Ukraine).
The lecture will take place as part of the second part of the residency of electronic music “Nachtkultur/Нічна культура”. The project was implemented within the “MEET UP! German-Ukrainian Youth Encounters” programme with support from the Foundation “Remembrance, Responsibility and Future” (EVZ). The opinions expressed by the authors are not necessarily those of the Foundation EVZ. The author is solely responsible for the content.
Lecture by Dmytro Nikolaienko “Working with Musical Archives”
Photo provided by the lecturer.
With the renaissance of the vinyl format in the last decade, the archive / reissue label phenomenon has emerged. Soundtracks marked “first time on vinyl” or “never heard before”, rare library music, works of unknown music amateurs and so-called “bedroom producers” – all this today finds a new breath in the music world.
In the early 10s, a group of enthusiasts asked themselves: Why is there no label in Ukraine that deals with local musical archeology? In response, after six years of preparation, the ‘Shukai’ Archive Record Label was founded in 2018. It focuses on the revival of tapes made by outsider composers between 1960 and 1991, also for films and television, but which were forgotten or have not even been heard by anyone. The lecturer seeks to lift the veil over the process of working with archives, not least by formulating problems that hinder its implementation. It is also proposed to consider why preserving the musical heritage of Soviet Ukraine is important.
The event will take place on December 5 at 12:00 live, the video broadcast will be available on the Facebook page of Visual Culture Research Center.
Dmytro Nikolaienko is a Ukrainian sound-artist currently based in Tallinn, Estonia. Nikolaienko works mainly with outdated musical gear which he uses to produce tape and cassette loops as a base material for his sound collages. At the same time, Dmytro is also a founder of Muscut and Shukai labels which focus on pseudo and practical audio archaeology.
Organized by Cashmere Radio (Berlin, Germany) and Visual Culture Research Center (Kyiv, Ukraine).
The lecture will take place as part of the second part of the residency of electronic music “Nachtkultur/Нічна культура”. The project was implemented within the “MEET UP! German-Ukrainian Youth Encounters” programme with support from the Foundation “Remembrance, Responsibility and Future” (EVZ). The opinions expressed by the authors are not necessarily those of the Foundation EVZ. The author is solely responsible for the content.
Residency of Electronic Music “Nachtkultur/Нічна культура”. Second Part
November 23 – December 13, 2020
The second part of the Residency of Electronic Music “Nachtkultur / Нічна культура” has started. The aim of the project is to establish intercultural dialogue and engage young people in social action. The residency first took place in July 2019.
The global pandemic, against the backdrop of a political and economic crisis, has affected all spheres of life. Night culture, which only yesterday was proclaimed the most progressive, today has received the status of illegal and is under threat of extinction. The activities of independent cultural organizations were terminated, international cultural ties were interrupted, and a lack of understanding of the problems and values of the cultural sphere, as well as the lack of support from the state, confronts us with the question of whether an electronic music scene can survive COVID-19.
Given such negative socio-political circumstances, the priority of the second part of the residency of electronic music “Nachtkultur / Нічна культура” is to create conditions for continued international communication and cooperation. First of all, the format of the residency makes it possible to consider the state of emergency and try to jointly look for potential ways out of it.
For three weeks, twelve representatives of German and Ukrainian night culture will meet with the help of digital technologies, being in organized studios in Kyiv and Berlin. The residency will be accompanied by practical and theoretical seminars conducted by invited professionals, as well as a public series of radio programs created by the participants.
Organized by Cashmere Radio (Berlin, Germany) and Visual Culture Research Center (Kyiv, Ukraine)
Team: Lukas Grundmann, Kateryna Nikolenko, Nazarii Sovsun
The project was implemented within the “MEET UP! German-Ukrainian Youth Encounters” programme with support from the Foundation “Remembrance, Responsibility and Future” (EVZ). The opinions expressed by the authors are not necessarily those of the Foundation EVZ. The author is solely responsible for the content.
Culture at Crossroads: What Collaboration Do We Want in Eastern Europe?
Friday, 18 September 2020, 12:00 – 16:30 (CET), online within Biennale Matter of Art Prague 2020
East Europe Biennale Alliance (EEBA) presents ‘Culture at Crossroads: What Collaboration Do We Want in Eastern Europe?’ – an online symposium which will be streaming on Friday September 18th 2020 from 12 pm (CET). The symposium will be held in English and is organised by the founding members of EEBA – Biennale Matter of Art Prague, Biennale Warszawa, Kyiv Biennial and OFF-Biennale Budapest.
The event will be livestreamed on www.facebook.com/biennalematterofart/
Participants:
Tereza Stejskalová, Veronika Janatková, Dominika Trapp, Kateřina Smejkalová, Noemi Purkrábková, Zoltán Ginneli, Eszter Lázár, Eszter Szakács, Serge Klymko, Wolfgang Schwärzler, Vasyl Cherepanyn, Aleksandra Jach, Michał Dąbrowski, Bartek Frąckowiak, Marta Michalak
What should we expect from art and art institutions in the next few years or decades? What is their role at a time of a major social transformation? Why do we make or present art, for whom, and does it make sense to continue using the same formats and materials as before? What should art be focusing on and what difference can it make? These are old questions but they need to be asked whenever conditions are changing—and they are changing now, drastically. Without a doubt, the current situation leads us to rethink and reimagine the way art institutions, art practices, and artists operate. We ask these questions from a perspective of artists and curators who operate in the Eastern European region—the periphery of Europe. As we have witnessed again during the COVID-19 pandemic, the interconnected global challenges take specific shape in our region. How are we, the art/cultural sector (institutions, curators, critics, artists, producers) preparing ourselves to operate in the future? How should we rethink the ways of creation, production, and distribution of artworks, projects, and events?
Perhaps, as a consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic, the art world will become smaller, more local, more grounded in local communities. This can be a good thing in terms of the sustainability of both: the human and non-human lives on this planet. After all, the opportunities for artistic and curatorial mobility have never been distributed equally or justly. But the notion of local can also be a trap. Under the rule of conservative governments in our countries, critical art, critical artists and critical art institutions have become extremely precarious, in some cases even directly persecuted. International connections are a crucial resource of not only intellectual exchange and finances but also of moral and political support. In what forms, formats, and mediums will this international cooperation be able to continue? How can we share gestures of solidarity with our Eastern European collaborators, partners, friends, comrades in struggle?
The newly established East Europe Biennial Alliance, comprised of the Biennale Matter of Art in Prague, Biennale Warszawa, Kyiv Biennial, and OFF-Biennale Budapest, aims to propose a different narrative of the East European region and redefining the way cultural institutions collaborate. As contemporary biennials have become an important vehicle reaching new contexts and audiences, the Alliance is designed to enhance the role of biennials in shaping innovative forms of international solidarity, expanding socio-political imagination and elaborating alternative cultural solutions. The Alliance brings biennials together to develop a shared vision and regional collaboration producing cross-border meetings, public events and working on the common agenda for upcoming years.
PROGRAM
TECHNOLOGIES AND THE WORK OF COLLABORATION
12:00-12:10 Tereza Stejskalová & Veronika Janatková: Introduction
12:10-12:25 Kateřina Smejkalová
12:25-12:40 Noemi Purkrábková
12:40-12:50 Discussion
12:50-13:00 BreakII. DECOLONIZATION AND/OF COLLABORATION
13:00-13:15 Zoltán Ginelli: Decolonizing the Non-Colonizers? Eastern Europe in Global Colonialism and Semiperipheral Decolonialism
13:15-13:30 Eszter Lázár & Eszter Szakács: Practices of Alliance Building
13:30-13:45 Dominika Trapp: Peasants in Atmosphere
13:45-14:00 Discussion
14:00- 14:30 BreakIII. ECOLOGIES AND VISUAL POLITICS OF COLLABORATION
14:30-14:45 Aleksandra Jach & Michał Dąbrowski: How to Talk about the Climate Crisis?
14:45-15:00 Wolfgang Schwärzler: Building the East Europe Biennial Alliance’s Graphic Design.
15:15-15:30 Vasyl Cherepanyn & Serhiy Klymko. Political in Content, Visual in Form: Notes on Cultural Internationalism.
15:30-15:45 Bartek Frąckowiak & Marta Michalak: Eastern Europe: Three Scenarios for the Future of Transnational Collaboration in the Cultural Field
15:45-16:15 Discussion
Чорна хмара – Київська бієнале 2019
Artificial intelligence, big data and Europe after Chernobyl: the program highlights of the Kyiv Biennial
Black Cloud – Kyiv Biennial 2019 will present a series of art projects and educational events focusing on the political and social role of modern technology. The main locations of the Biennial will be KPI Library and the House of Cinema.
Black Cloud, the third Kyiv Biennial of contemporary art, knowledge and politics organized by the Visual Culture Research Center, will take place on October 11 – November 23, 2019. The goal of the Kyiv Biennial 2019 is to reflect on social and political transformations in Eastern Europe over the past three decades, influenced by the Chernobyl catastrophe, the collapse of the Soviet Union, and the development of information and communications technology.
The Biennial’s program will incorporate an exhibition presenting the works of artists from Ukraine, Germany, Great Britain, India, Canada and other countries, as well as a public program featuring international researchers, scholars and activists. The exhibition will take place in KPI Library – a unique architectural masterpiece of the Soviet modernism which will become one of the locations of this year’s Kyiv Biennial. The events of the public program will also be held in the House of Cinema.
The Black Cloud exhibition will unite artists working with the topics of mass communication, artificial intelligence, environment and the Chernobyl catastrophe. In particular, it will feature a well-known installation “The Glass Room” by Tactical Tech collective, illustrating the mechanisms of personal data collection and the problem of privacy on the internet. A number of works will explore the liaisons between technology, politics and environment. For example, Susan Schuppli’s installation “Delay Decay” shows cover pages of the Pravda newspaper published in the 20-day gap between the Chernobyl nuclear accident and its public disclosure by the government, drawing parallels between radioactive threat and media manipulations. Other works question the anthropocentric perspective and address non-human life forms, such as Emilio Vavarella’s film composed of video fragments shot by animals.
The public program of the Kyiv Biennial 2019 will include around 15 lectures, presentations and panel discussions. For instance, international symposium “Communicative Militarism” focused on the phenomenon of cyberwar will take place on October 17-18, followed by a discussion on October 26-27 with Ukrainian experts and activists on how data is generated, used and protected online. A part of the public program called “Middle East Europe” will address contemporary historical conditions and ideological divisions in the countries of Eastern Europe and the Middle East that have become the battlefield for new authoritarianism and right-wing populism. It will consist of a series of lectures by the renowned philosophers, historians and political scientists, such as Geneviève Fraisse, Philipp Ther, Jan-Werner Müller, Sandro Mezzadra, Claus Offe, among others.
In 2019, Kyiv Biennial became part of the newly established East Europe Biennial Alliance, which also includes Biennale Matter of Art in Prague, Biennale Warszawa and OFF-Biennale Budapest.
Featured participants of the Kyiv Biennial 2019 include: Isabelle Alfonsi (France), Clemens Apprich (Germany), Arab Media Lab (Morocco), Keti Chukhrov (Russia), Geneviève Fraisse (France), Georgiy Kasianov (Ukraine), Oleksandr Kupnyi (Ukraine), Geert Lovink (Netherlands), Oliver Marchart (Austria), Svitlana Matviyenko (Canada), Sandro Mezzadra (Italy), Jan-Werner Müller (Germany/USA), Claus Offe (Germany), Niels ten Oever (Denmark), Nelly Pinkrah (Germany), Oleksiy Radynski (Ukraine), Raqs Media Collective (India), Kirill Savchenkov (Russia), Susan Schuppli (Great Britain), Tactical Tech (Germany), Aleksei Taruts (Russia), Philipp Ther (Austria), Emilio Vavarella (Italy), et al.
PROGRAM
October 11, Friday, 19:00 – KPI Library
“Black Cloud” exhibition opening
October 12, Saturday, 18:00 – KPI Library
“Час не чує, але він чекає на нас. On the nth Ground of the 6th Ocean: Ocean-Sensing Practices.” Performance by Kirill Savchenkov (Russia)
October 12, Saturday, 19:00 – KPI Library, Auditorium 6.5
“The Deregulation of Representations.” Lecture by Geneviève Fraisse (France)
October 13, Sunday, 19:00 – The House of Cinema, Blue hall
“Arab Stereotypes in Western Media. Hollywood as an Example: From Silent Movies to the Late 90’s and the Beginning of 2000.” Presentation by Abdelaziz Taleb (Arab Media Lab, Morocco)
October 17-18, Thursday-Friday, 18:30 – KPI Library, Auditorium 6.5
“Communicative Militarism.” Symposium curated by Svitlana Matviyenko (Canada)
October 19, Saturday, 19:00 – KPI Library, Auditorium 6.5
“History and Memory: Use and Abuse (Ukraine and Post-Communist World).” Lecture by Georgiy Kasianov (Ukraine)
October 24, Thursday, 19:00 – The House of Cinema, Blue hall
“From Neoliberalism to Illiberalism. The Great Transformation after 1989.” Lecture by Philipp Ther (Austria)
October 25, Friday, 19:00 – The House of Cinema, Blue hall
“Queer Art, Herstories and Emancipatory Strategies.” Talk by Isabelle Alfonsi (France)
October 26, Saturday, 14:00 – KPI Library, Auditorium 6.5
“(Toxic) State of Data: Data Politics and Data Policies in Ukraine.” Symposium curated by Digital Security Lab (Ukraine)
October 29, Tuesday, 19:00 – The House of Cinema, Blue hall
“Is there Really a Crisis of Democracy?” Lecture by Jan-Werner Müller (Germany/US)
November 2, Saturday, 19:00 – The House of Cinema, Blue hall
“Proliferating Borders in the Battlefield of Migration. Rethinking Freedom of Movement.” Lecture by Sandro Mezzadra (Italy)
November 15, Friday, 19:00 – The House of Cinema, Blue hall
“Conflictual Aesthetics. Artistic Activism and the Public Sphere.” Lecture by Oliver Marchart (Austria)
November 16, Saturday, 16:00 – The House of Cinema, Blue hall
“Borderlines in the East of Europe.” Symposium of the “Europe in the Middle East – The Middle East in Europe” (EUME) research program at the Forum Transregionale Studien (Germany)
November 17, Sunday, 19:00 – The House of Cinema, Blue hall
“Data Sonification.” Seminar and workshop by Daniel Siemaszko (Switzerland)
November 17-18, Sunday, 17:00, Monday, 19:00 – Metaculture
“Open Call (For Opinions).” Theatre exhibition by Studio Lajf (Czech Republic / Slovakia)
November 19, Tuesday, 19:00 – The House of Cinema, Blue hall
“Philosophy beyond Computation. On Evald Ilyenkov’s Critique of Artificial Intelligence.” Lecture by Keti Chukhrov (Russia)
November 22, Friday, 19:00 – The House of Cinema, Blue hall
“Transitioning from State Socialism to Democratic Capitalism. Observations on Ten Construction Sites.” Lecture by Claus Offe (Germany)
Locations:
The Scientific and Technical Library of the National Technical University of Ukraine “Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute” (37 prospect Peremohy, metro Politekhnichnyi Instytut).
The House of Cinema (6 Saksahanskoho Str., metro Palats Sportu).
Metaculture (31 Nyzhnioyurkivska Str., metro Tarasa Shevchenka).
Admission to all events is free of charge.
Institutional Partners: Biennale Praha (Czech Republic), Biennale Warszawa (Poland), European Alternatives (France), Forum Transregionale Studien (Germany), OFF-Biennale Budapest (Hungary), Transeuropa Festival 2019 (Italy), The Scientific and Technical Library of the National Technical University of Ukraine “Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute”, Digital Security Lab
With the Support of: ERSTE Foundation, Foundation for Arts Initiatives, Goethe-Institut Kiew, Prince Claus Fund, Ukrainian Cultural Foundation.