On Saturday, November 3, at 19:00 a concert of Kwartludium band (Poland) will take place at National Union of Composers (Pushkinska Str., 32). The performance is part of “Culture of Transformation” project, co-organized by Visual Culture Research Center and Political Critique magazine.

The band Kwartludium emerged in 2002 and consists of Dagna Sadkowska (violin), Michał Górczyński (clarinet), Paweł Nowicki (percussion) and Piotr Nowicki (piano). Kwartludium is known for its improvised and atonal music performance. The group focuses on performing works by young composers, as well as better known composers including Stockhausen, Bergstroem-Nielsen, Cardew, Stark, Wolf, Rasmusen and Detoni.

Programme of Kwartludium concert in Kyiv

Wojciech Blecharz – Torpor

Jagoda Szmytka – Sky-me_type-me

Wojciech Ziemowit Zych – Ever-present Longing

Sławomir Wojciechowski – Rope of Sands

Music interpretations of visual artworks will also be presented at the concert:

Pola Dwurnik – Object

Adam X –  Elements of the Octopus Style

Rafał Bujnowski – Kosmos

Twożywo – Fear That Weaves Structures

Anna Okrasko – Column # 10

Karol Radziszewski – No Name

Adam Witkowski – The Truth Has No Guidelines

After the concert a discussion will be open with the members of Kwartludium band, the composer Sławomir Wojciechowski and music critic Monika Pasiecznik. Moderator: music curator Wojtek Zralek-Kossakowski.

National Union of Composers: 32, Pushkinska Str.

The concert takes place within the framework of Culture of Transformation project, co-organized by Visual Culture Research Center and Political Critique magazine, supported by the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage of Poland. Project partners: Polish Institute in Kyiv, Zhovten Cinema. Media partners: Art Ukraine, Korydor, Telekrytyka, VideoTeka.

http://www.kwartludium.com

October 26, Friday, 19:00 – Visual Culture Research Center presents the exhibition In Charge of the Edition by Olexander Burlaka, Anastasia Ryabova and Maxim Spivakov. The project is dedicated to the visual accompaniment of the election procedure, the intervention of the election campaign into the urban space which transforms the cognitive landscape and creates the illusion of political action.

The campaign transforms the city into the space of the obtrusive self-representation of the agents of political competition. Leading up their visual presence to the point of absurdity, a palette of candidates simulates the variety of choice as the election itself simulates a possibility to choose. According to the Law of Ukraine “On Elections of People’s Deputies”, a citizen has the right to exercise free choice of political preferences without the influence of propaganda only on the day of silence. Through photography, video and installation the artists offer to rethink such illusory possibility.

In Charge of the Edition is the third show in the Unrendered Spaces ongoing exhibition project, which includes a series of expositions dedicated to the strategies of perception of environment inside and outside the city, the possibilities of its exploration by the means of art. Concentrated on the points of perceptive conflict, multiple interpretations of the living space, the project aims at playing out the political, social, aesthetic zones of tension by redefining it.

The exhibition is open until November 18, Tuesday – Sunday, from 17:00 to 21:00

October 22, 2012, 20:00

Zhovten Cinema, «Anshlag» hall (26, Kostyantynivska Str.)

On Monday, October 22^th at 20 p.m. the screening of It Looks Pretty From a Distance by Anka Sasnal and Wilhelm Sasnal will take place within the program of Molodist International Film Festival. There will be a discussion with the authors and film theorists Lesya Kulchinska (Visual Culture Research Center, Kyiv) Jakub Majmurek (Krytyka Polityczna, Warsaw).

The action takes place in a secluded Polish village near the woods and a river. It is here, where a love story between a scrapper and a girl unfolds. In an air of ubiquitous secrecy, the villagers and the couple live their everyday dull lives of hardship until the scrapper vanishes. His disappearance triggers a chain of unexpected events. In strikingly beautiful surroundings, under a scorching sun, human evil surfaces.

Wilhelm Sasnal is one of the most renowned contemporary Polish artists. His pieces are in the collections of Tate Modern, MOMA, Centre Pompidou and many other museums. He collaborates with Foksal Gallery foundation and Political Critique (Krytyka Polityczna).

The screening has been organized within the framework of the Culture of Transformation project, co-organized by Visual Culture Research Center and Political Critique magazine, supported by the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage of Poland. Project partners: Polish Institute in Kyiv, Zhovten cinema.

National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy, 1^st building, auditorium 217 (2, Skovorody St.)

October 19^th, 18:00

Participants: Volodymyr Vorotniov, Nikita Kadan, Nazariy Sovsun, Vasyl Cherepanyn

Political Critique #4: СВБД ПСРТ

The fourth issue is dedicated to art as a tool for the transformation of social reality. The opening chapter contains the Political Critique survey with Russian artists, theoreticians and activists about the societal effect of Pussy Riot group actions and the imprisonment of its members. The visual chapter consists of works by Ukrainian and Polish critical artists, who analyze the event of Europe football championship in Ukraine and Poland by means of art. The chapter “Forget Fear” presents a selection of talks with contemporary artists and activists made by Artur Żmijewski during the period of his preparation of the 7th Berlin Biennale in 2012.

Some of the authors of the issue: Pavel Arsenyev, Yael Bartana, Yevgenia Belorusets, Ilya Budraitskis, Oleksandr Burlaka, Anatoly Belov, Joanna Warsza, Aleksandr Volodarsky, Volodymyr Vorotniov, Paweł Demirski, Ekaterina Degot, Galit Eilat, Serhiy Zhadan, Artur Żmijewski, Anna Zvyagintseva, Aleksandr Ivanov, Mykyta Kadan, Zhanna Kadyrova, Marcin Kalinski, Jaś Kapela, Lesia Kulchinska, Renzo Martens, Ivan Melnychuk, Antanas Mockus, Olha Papash, Rafael Pishobomb, Thomas Piatek, Konrad Pustola, Oleksiy Radynski, Mykola Ridny, Yevhen Samborsky, John Iveson Silva, Nazariy Sovsun, Igor Stokfiszewski, Monika Strzepka, Vlad Tupikin, Noah Fisher, Sergio Franco, Vasyl Cherepanyn, Keti Chukhrov, Árpád Schilling, Timea Junghaus.

On October 18, at 19:00 Visual Culture Research Center opens a debate dedicated to the protests of nowadays.

Street protest today is perhaps the only access path for the masses to democratic politics. However, in the countries most severely hit by the crisis demonstrations of thousands of people are being supressed with batons. In Ukraine so far protests are predominantly combated legally – through banning them in court decisions and restricting public gatherings in new bills. Visual Culture Research Center invites to discuss the variety of forms of protest action today, the possibilities and menaces the protesters are facing.

The debate is taking place in the framework of the exhibition Democracies by Artur Zmijewski, which consists of film series documenting various political actions around the globe.

Participants:

Denys Horbach – journalist, Independent Workers Union activist

Volodymyr Ishchenko – sociologist (Centre for Society Research), lecturer at Sociology Department of NaUKMA

Andriy Ryepa – philosopher, translator

Moderator:

Inna Sovsun – political scientist (Centre for Society Research), lecturer at Political Science Department of NaUKMA

On October 8^th 2012 a new exhibition season at Visual Culture Research Center will start with Artur Zmijewski’s Democracies. During his stay in Kyiv Zmijewski will also take part in a presentation of a new issue of Political Critique magazine (Ukrainian edition), published by Visual Culture Research Center. An exhibition will last until October 23.

Artur Zmijewski is an artist and curator, one of the leading representatives of current critical art. He participated in 51. Venice Biennale, Manifesta 5 and Documenta 12. In 2012, he curated the 7. Berlin Biennale (together with Joanna Warsza and Voina group). Zmijewski is an artistic editor of Political Critique magazine. In his work Zmijewski studies the current social antagonisms, problems of political representation and collective imaginaries.

Democracies is an ongoing film series that documents various political actions around the globe. Zmijewski’s camera becomes both witness and participant of protest actions, mourning demonstrations, civil unrests, sports celebrations, historical reconstructions etc. Zmijewski comments on his project: ‘I appreciate the politicization of public space. A demonstration that may last for just on hour is a moment, when people occupy the position of political subject, subvert the rules of parliamentary politics. They say: only direct politics exist. This is an incredible moment that should never end’ (In conversation with Oleksiy Radynski, Art Ukraine magazine, #3/2011).

During his stay in Kyiv Artur Zmijewski will also present his film Catastrophe that documents the reaction of Polish society towards the crash of Lech Kaczynski’s presidential plane in Russia on April 10, 2012.

Visual Culture Research Center (26 Kostiantynivska st, Zhovten Cinema)

This exhibition takes part within Culture of Transformation project, co-organized by Visual Culture Research Center and supported by the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage of Poland. Project partners: Polish Institute in Kyiv, Zhovten Cinema.

October 4-7, 2012

Mystetskyi Arsenal

12 Lavrska St.

Magazine Hall

Events by “Political Critique”, “Prostory”, “Commons”, Translators and Writers Union and Visual Culture Research Center at the II International Arsenal Book Festival

Common political space makes a special type of agora or a public platform for presentations, debates, meetings of intellectuals, artists, activists, translators, critics, theoreticians. The active quality of such platform will let the participants and anyone interested meet and work together creating an intellectual workroom as a form of political action.

October 4, Thursday

14:30-15:00. Women and language: a talk on the politics of using feminitive forms. Participants: Olena Synchak, Halyna Yarmanova. Moderator: Kateryna Mishchenko.

15:30-16:50.   Legal workshop for translators. With copyright law expert Serhiy Petrenko. Moderators: Maryna Aleksandrovych and Iryna Troskot.

17:00-18:20.   Enemy vs. alien: on racism in science and society. Presentation of magazines “Political Critique”, “Commons”, and the book “Greeks, Arabs, and Us”. Participants: Nina Potarska, Andriy Ryepa, Vasyl Cherepanyn. Moderator: Anastasia Riabchuk.

18:30-20:00.   Faith, politics, love: presentation of magazines “Political Critique” and “Prostory”. Participants: Kateryna Mishchenko, Andriy Ryepa, Vasyl Cherepanyn. Moderator: Yevgeniya Belorusets.

October 5, Friday

15:00-16:20.   Presentation of “Labour and the Labour Movement in Ukraine” project and screening of the film “Kherson Machine-Building Plant”. Participants: Vitaliy Atanasov and Anastasia Riabchuk.

16:30-17:30.   The arbitrariness of speech: a talk on translatability of the obscene and a reading of texts from the 5^th issue of “Prostory” “Faith, Porn, Love”. Participants: Oleksandra Hryhorenko, Olesya Kamyshnykova, Serhiy Orzhekhovsky. Moderator: Iryna Sobchenko.

17:40-19:00.   Presentation of “Commons” magazine: new social critique in Ukraine. Participants: Volodymyr Ishchenko, Ihor Samokhin. Moderator: Anastasia Riabchuk.

October 6, Saturday

14:00-16:00.   Translating the alike: Ukrainian-Polish workshop. Moderator: Oleksandra Bratchuk.

16:30-17:30. Translating the alike: debate and reading. Participants: Bohdan Zadura, Aneta Kaminska, Halyna Kruk, Vasyl Lozynsky, Ostap Slyvynsky. Moderator: Oleksandra Bratchuk.

17:40-19:00. Eros and sport: presentation of the 4^th issue of “Political Critique” and a special issue of “Prostory” “Eros 2012”. Participants: Lesya Kulchinska, Kateryna Mishchenko, Oleksiy Radynsky. Moderator: Vasyl Cherepanyn.

19:00-20:00.   “The pleasure of contemplation”: presentation of the Ukrainian edition of Franz Kafka’s collection of short stories “Contemplation”, styled as the primary edition of 1912. With Vasyl Lozynsky, author of idea and translator. Moderator: Andriy Ryepa.

October 7, Sunday

11:00-13:00.   Ukrainian-Polish translating workshops. Moderator: Oleksandra Bratchuk.

14:00-15:00.   Freedom, translation, solidarity: discussion about translation as a political strategy. With members of the Translators and Writers Union. Moderator: Kateryna Mishchenko.

16:00-18:00.   Forget fear: presentation of the 4^th issue of “Political Critique” with the art director of the edition, chief curator of the 7^th Berlin Biennale Artur Zmiewski. Participants: Lesya Kulchinska, Oleksiy Radynsky. Moderator: Vasyl Cherepanyn.

“Political Critique” is the Ukrainian edition of the magazine “Krytyka Polityczna”, the first international publishing project by the intellectual community of the same name, which emerged in Poland at the beginning of the 2000s. vcrc.org.ua/pk/

“Prostory” is an independent platform on literature and art, which includes an online magazine prostory.net.ua, public cultural events and a printed periodical.

“Commons” is a collective project focused on analyzing social reality on a national and a global scale. commons.com.ua

Translators and Writers Union is an initiative founded by translators of fiction and nonfiction literature and writers for protecting their rights and professional development. https://translatersunion.wordpress.com/

Visual Culture Research Center is a platform for collaboration of artists, activists and researchers founded in Kyiv-Mohyla Academy in 2008. Since April 2012 VCRC resides at “Zhovten“ cinema. vcrc.org.ua

Visual Culture Research Center (Kyiv) and Centre for Contemporary Art Ujazdowski Castle (Warsaw) present

July 30-31, 2012, Monday-Tuesday

Within the Special Project “Double Game” of the First Kyiv Biennale of Contemporary Art “ARSENALE 2012” the performance from the series “Travelings of Matołek the Billy-Goat” prepared by the Polish artist Paweł Althamer will take place in Kyiv urban space.

http://csw.art.pl/

Presentation of the 5th issue of “Prostory” magazine

On Thursday, 26th of July at 7 p.m. the new issue of the magazine “Prostory” titled “Faith, Porn, Love” will be presented in the Visual Culture Research Center at “Zhovten” Cinema (26, Kostyantynivska St.). The editors of the issue Nelya Vakhovska, Kateryna Mishchenko and Nataliya Chermalykh will speak on political love, pornography in literature, social morality and faith in their own faith.

Faith, Porn, Love – isn’t just an issue that combines all the three components of the triad to make entire chapters with literature, philosophical and artistic works, starting from the Vienna Actionists’ prose, contemporary Ukrainian poetry and essays, to French philosophy and “indecent” Italian sonnets from the 16th century. The trinity itself signifies a new logic of thinking and action in the contemporary space without hope. According to this logic, love might solidarize, porno may expose the society’s underside, and faith can overturn the established oppressive order. Also “Faith, Porn, Love” is the slogan used by “Prostory” to oppose the existing reactionary politics of prohibitions and censorship, the fighters against gender and sexuality.

Four art projects at once are presented in the issue: works by French photographer Antoine d’Agata, Ukrainian photographers Yevgeniya Belorusets and Stepan Rudyk, and graphic works by Anatoliy Belov. Among the authors of the issue: classics and coevals from Ukraine, Italy, USA, France, Germany, Austria, Poland, Switzerland, such as Anastasia Afanasyeva, Leonid Ushkalov, Bohdan Storokha, Geneviève Fraisse, Theodor Adorno, Alain Badiou, Aldo Nove, Walter Benjamin, Hermann Nitsch, Roland Barthes, Rosa Luxemburg, Agota Kristof, Audre Lord, and many others.

“Prostory” is an independent literary and artistic platform engaged in publishing an online magazine www.prostory.net.ua, and printed periodical, as well as organizing public cultural events.