“The Materiality of the Ruins: History, Trauma, and War in Ukrainian Contemporary Art”

Kateryna Iakovlenko, Public Program Curator, PinchukArtCentre

Facing civil revolution and war in 2014, Ukrainian contemporary art took a documentary and archival turn. Many artists and film directors began to take an interest in trauma, looking into the most unpleasant moments of their history. However, when the full-scale invasion started in February 2022 and brutality and violence increased, many creators searched for a new language. In her lecture, contemporary art researcher and writer Kateryna Iakovlenko will discuss why “ruin” is Ukrainian artists’ chosen material and how it serves as a strategy for artistic and civic resistance to violence.

Kateryna Iakovlenko is a Luhansk-born Ukrainian visual art researcher and writer. She worked as reporter and deputy web editor of The Day newspaper (2012–14), curator and program manager of the Donbas Studies Research Project at Izolyatsia (2014–15), and as researcher and curator of public programs at PinchukArtCentre (2016–21). Her current research touches upon the role of art and culture during political transformation and war.

Meeting ID: 325 783 1800