Ukrainian days in Tartu. UKRAINE! UNMUTED

It is a Ukrainian cultural program in the European Capital of Culture Tartu 2024. It includes various activities during two days — November 7-8.

Three thematic discussions will take place on the first day. The focus of all discussions is the challenges that cultural institutions and artists face in times of turbulence. It is just natural that Ukrainian participants can tell how Ukrainian artists and cultural actors are coping with the war risks. That is one of the stories to be told, but not the only: people and institutions from Estonia and other countries have been suffering from underfinancing, impacts of climate change, corruption, and radicalization of European politics. More security challenges are to come. ‘Survival’ is the keyword for the discussions, but it is life that is the reason to meet and talk.

The topics of the discussions:
– How to stay afloat when nothing is certain: the experience of cultural institutions.
– Should we talk about survival only in times of surviving?
– Small is beautiful. How to be a small culture in the post-imperial world?

On September 8, we will have the opportunity to learn more about Ukrainian contemporary art — thanks to the presentation of the Ukrainian Cross-Section online platform. The platform represents Ukrainian art based on the triennial of Ukrainian contemporary art Ukrainian Cross-Section (2010-2022). It is a collection of information about 5 editions of the project over 15 years in various European cities: Lublin 2010, 2013, Wroclaw 2016, Lviv 2019, Kaunas 2022. The resource contains exhibition concepts from different years, information about the artists who participated in the project and their works, and accompanying texts and catalogs.

The event will continue with the presentation of the essay collection UKRAINE! UNMUTED. The book intends to open up Ukrainian culture to foreigners, to ruin the stereotypes about it. Some of the text authors are: Ivan Kozlenko, Kateryna Botanova, Mykola Riabchuk, Vitaliy Portnykov, Zoia Zvyniatskivska, as well as Yurko Vovkohon — cultural manager and the military of the Ukrainian army, thinking about art and war as a «highly concentrated life» and how do people of culture being on war can convey this experience to others. The curator of the publication is translator, publisher, and author Oksana Forostyna. The texts are translated into Estonian by Anna Verschik and Margus Lattik.

Another part of the program is performances by Ukrainian artists. In particular, we will see the performance of Maria Bakalo Maze Without a Minotaur. ‘

Project UKRAINE! UNMUTED is a part of the European Capital of Culture Tartu 2024 programme. It is implemented with the support of the European Union and the International Renaissance Foundation within the framework ‘European Renaissance of Ukraine’ project, and Ukrainian Institute.

More details and updates coming soon!