Utopia: Transformations of the Ukrainian East Public Programme

As part of the exhibition Utopia: Transformations of the Ukrainian East, IZOLYATSIA and Garage Gang present a public programme that includes a lecture, film screening, discussions, presentations, and a living library aimed at discussing prospects of cultural and social change in the Donbas region.  

PROGRAMME

08.02 Thursday, 7 PM, 2nd floor
The exhibition opening and tour with curator Oleksandr Mykhed and Formografia design studio
Music performance by electro-folk band CloudJam

10.02 Saturday, 5 PM, 2nd floor
Public talk Utopia of the Ukrainian East: identity and ideal scenarios of the future
Speakers: Olena Stiazhkina, Liubov Yakymchuk, Ihor Kozlovskiy, Volodymyr Pryhodko
Moderator: Kateryna Sergatskova 

Is there a unique identity of the east? Does it affect the present and the future of the region? How should we act in order for the ideal scenarios of the future to be programmed for the east and the whole country? A conversation with researchers from Donetsk and Luhansk will be held on the identity of the eastern cities, people, and the situation in which new connections are formed. The public talk will be moderated by journalist and the Future of Donbas multimedia project author, Kateryna Sergatskova.

17.02. Saturday, 2-5 PM, 2nd floor, cafe
Living library of Donbas 

24.02. Saturday, 6 PM, 2nd floor
Presentation of the book Marko Zalizniak: Through Life with a Guardian Angel and Photography featuring the author V. Zalizniak. 

Presentation of the only research on Marko Zalizniak, an important photographer and chronicler of Ukrainian history,. The book is the result of a long-term exploration by Zalizniak’s grandson Mark. It is based on the diaries and records made by the photographer himself.

27.02. Tuesday, 7 PM, 2nd floor
Donbas studies: cases of Mariupol, Kramatorsk, and Sloviansk 
Speakers: Anton Liagusha, Mariia Hryshchenko, Oleksandra Slobodian, Liudmyla Heraimovych, Anastasiia Boychuk, Andriy Solodko
Moderator: Dmytro Chepurnyi 

A presentation of the results of the research held within the ZMINA: Impulse project by IZOLYATSIA will be followed by a discussion about the possibility of social and cultural change in the region based on Mariupol, Kramatorsk, and Sloviansk examples. For three months, an interdisciplinary research group worked on the analysis of social and cultural changes in the region and the development of local non-governmental organisations in Mariupol, Kramatorsk, and Sloviansk. The research focused on the impact of the ongoing war,  emergence of IDPs, and the development of NGOs on changes of the cities’ economy, employment, and human rights.

02.03. Friday, 7 PM, 2nd floor
Lecture and discussion Places of (ir)responsibility: What is a public space? 
Moderator: Ihor Tyshchenko, NAUKMA
Speakers: Roman Sakh and Kostiantyn Kuchabskiy (Formografia design studio), Mariia Hryshchenko (CEDOS), Kira Rozhdestvenska (Pylorama). 

A lecture and discussion about the role of public spaces and architectural interventions in towns of Donetsk and Luhansk regions. The discussion is a critical attempt to look at the concept of public space in a specific context in order to avoid universalisation and to find real instruments of impact on the local environment with the help of art and architectural interventions.

06.03. Tuesday, 6:30 PM, 2nd floor
Presentation of the book Transformations of the Ukrainian East summarising the results of the multidisciplinary teamwork of the Metacity: East project
Speakers: Vita Bazan, Anastasiia Parafeniuk, Oleksandr Mykhed, Iryna Yakovchuk, Roman Sakh, Kostyantyn Kuchabskiy, Olena Pravylo
Moderator: Anastasiia Platonova

The Transformations of the Ukrainian East is the result of the multidisciplinary research during the Metacity: East project. For eleven months, from December 2016 till November 2017, the team of Metacity: East was doing a multidisciplinary research of cultural, urban and identity aspects of six towns in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions: Lysychansk, Bakhmut, Pokrovsk, Severodonetsk, Kostiantynivka, and Dobropillia. The team of Urban Curators conducted a complex urban research, and the Congress of Cultural Activists representatives collected data about the state of contemporary culture. Formografia Design Studiо created new architectural forms in collaboration with local activists. Curator Oleksandr Mykhed along with artists explored history and identity of the towns and designed relevant artistic interventions.

The Transformations of the Ukrainian East book is a collection of articles looking at six cities of the east through the prism of identity, urbanism, and culture; sharing the contradictions, recreating processes, and reflecting on the results of artistic and architectural interventions. It is an attempt to simulate possible spatial and cultural scenarios for the development of these cities.

06.03. Tuesday, 8 PM, 1st floor
Screening of Man with a Movie Camera (dir. Dziga Vertov) in musical accompaniment by Anton Dehtiarov (Ptakh) 
Supported by the National Oleksandr Dovzhenko Centre

Man with a Movie Camera is one of the most important manifestos of the world avant-garde cinema. According to Vertov’s aesthetic guidelines, the film was directed without any script. Vertov implemented many years of experiments and theoretical work in the field of cinematography, turning the film into a methodological manual for future generations of directors. The camera of the talented cameraman Mykhailo Kaufman captures the motley Ukrainian urban life—Odesa, Kharkiv, and Kyiv, during the NEP times.

Visitors are encouraged to join another experiment, in which the musician Ptakh will perform the unique soundtrack written especially for the silent film.

All events will take place at the IZONE Creative Community, vul. Naberezhno-Luhova 8. 
Free entry to all events.