Visual Culture Research Center joins L’Internationale confederation in the project “Museum of the Commons”. The fourth European cooperative project led by L’Internationale, will be focusing on the themes of climate, translocal cooperation, and artistic strategies of healing and repair.

As the confederation’s latest project, “Museum of the Commons” responds to current social and cultural emergencies, Russia’s war against Ukraine and the earthquake along Turkish border, both countries in which we have partners.

L’Internationale, the confederation of major European museums, art institutions, research centres and think-tanks, takes its name from the workers’ anthem calling for an equitable democratic society, and references the historical labour movement. In learning from local and shared histories, L’Internationale focuses on what is to come, in imagining, developing and implementing new visions for a future that will be just, democratic and sustainable for everyone, planetwide.

Over the coming four years, L’Internationale will implement Museum of the Commons (2023–2026), a project granted €2,000,000 by the EU Creative Europe programme. During this period, the confederation will comprise 14 institutions: Museo Reina Sofía (Spain), MACBA (Spain), M HKA (Belgium), MSN (Poland), Salt (Turkey), Van Abbemuseum (the Netherlands), MSU (Croatia), Haus der Kulturen der Welt (Germany), HDK-Valand (Sweden), NCAD (Ireland), ZRC SAZU (Slovenia), Institute for Radical Imagination (Italy), Tranzit.ro (Romania), the Visual Culture Research Center (Ukraine), and two associate partners, IMMA (Ireland) and WIELS (Belgium), along with the L’Internationale Association.

Museum of the Commons weaves together three transversal thematic threads corresponding to key challenges contemporary societies are facing: 1) Climate; 2) Situated Organisations; and 3) Past in the Present. The Climate thread tackles issues of the current planetary climate crisis, the sustainability of institutional, artistic and cultural practices and processes, and the urgency of transforming more ecologically our politics, societies, cultures and ways of life. The Situated Organisations thread queries the role of museums and art organisations as actors in complex social networks and ecosystems, to seek new ways of democratising institutions and to render them more open, inclusive and useful. The final thread, Past in the Present, focuses on the crucial roles our local and shared histories hold in constituting contemporary identities, politics, societies and cultures, investigating the persistence and long-lasting impact of historical and current environmental and colonial violence, including Russia’s war against Ukraine and the crisis along the Turkish-Syrian border. In doing so, the confederation seeks to mobilise art and culture as strategic tools in processes of healing, reconstruction and repair of damage that has been inflicted.

These thematic threads will guide the content of L’Internationale activities, from exhibitions to nomadic schools, artist residencies and community workshops. They explore contemporary models of sustainable cultural production and propose frameworks for new forms of cultural co-creation, contributing to environmental, social and artistic transformation. The confederation undertakes multiple actions in directly supporting artists, culture workers and refugees living with the impact of global conflicts, while supporting international solidarity among European institutions and contributing to the future recovery of the cultural sector and of society at large.

internationaleonline.org/

L’Internationale partners: Museo Reina Sofía (Spain), MACBA (Spain), M HKA (Belgium), MSN (Poland), Salt (Istanbul, Turkey), Van Abbemuseum (the Netherlands), MSU (Croatia), Haus der Kulturen der Welt (Germany), HDK-Valand (Sweden), NCAD (Ireland), ZRC SAZU (Slovenia), Institute for Radical Imagination (Italy), Tranzit.ro (Romania).

Asocciated partners: IMMA (Ireland), WIELS (Belgium)

Co-funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA). Neither the European Union nor EACEA can be held responsible for them.

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

Museum of Modern Art, Warsaw

Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam

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.

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. 

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.

Program

Calendar of events

Event on Facebook

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

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.

https://kyivbiennial.org/

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.

Photo provided by the lecturer.

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.

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