Monday brings a number of rare opportunities for me in Berlin: I will stage some theatre, be on a panel, and show a short film, all at the same event in dialogue with Ukraine.
Event Link - https://www.goethe.de/prj/gex/en/ver.cfm?event_id=25243361
(free entry from 16.30)
The performance Factory Ukrainka comes off a few months of research work, following on from initial translations of Lesya Ukrainka's poetry that I undertook as a kind of cultural roadblock in March, 2022. Together with Ann Krekhno and Axxi Oma, with Olha Bohachevska in support, we will present the initial work-in-progress as a cabaret-style performance, showcasing a number of her poems and letters, weaved into a story of her life. The results will be important for continuing the development of our musical-theatrical exploration of the life and works of Ukraine's most famous activist-poet, and a founder of Ukrainian language and culture, which will be developed further as part of Bohachevska's residency with Cultural Workers Studio later in 2023.
The film Hanny in the Factory (2023), also starring Ann Krekhno, was shot in March, with our colleague Anita Kopylenko as Director of Photography. The film was shot at the former tram factory Flutgraben in March 2023, located at a key control point of the former wall between East-West Berlin, (and the home to our beloved Cultural Workers Studio). It follows the story of its protagonist Hanny, who leads an invisible male narrator around a former factory, telling stories of violence and social ritual, before defiantly stating her die-hard self-determination. The film enjoys its second rendition here, with a re-shot sequence and subtitles from Natalie Krekhno.
Finally, I am speaking on the podium discussion "It's not a bug, it's a feature", together with my colleague Ksenia Yanko, who I was proud to support in the exhibition The Bug-Out Bag in early 2023. I will be no-doubt proud of the firework performance Yanko and I create (Public discourse will never be the same again, I hope). Making up the panel are a pair from the Potsdam-based Artefact, Jenny Alten, Valeriia Buchuck, as well as the organisation zusa represented by Adina Constantin, with whom we will have the pleasure of collaborating in early 2024. The conversation will be moderated by Head of Culture at Goethe, Dr. Wolf Iro, and focus on problems in institutional collaboration.
The event Cultural Dialogue with Ukraine was assembled by Or Shemesh of Goethe im Exil, and we acknowledge the support of Or and the teams from Artists At Risk and Goethe Institute, which this year allows us to host another 6 artists from Ukraine - Katya Balabai, Rodion Prokhorenko, Oleks Safarov, Olga Bogachevska, Inna Gosha, and Elvis Cholpukh - and hopefully to grow our ever-expanding family in resistence against forces that attempt to threaten and attack artistic communities, specifically in a Ukrainian context.
See you there I hope!
Photo from rehearsals of Factory Ukrainka in Flutgraben, Berlin.
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