Ukrainian Culture at War

The Post-Soviet Generation and the Trauma of Decolonization by Tamara Hundorova

The talk will focus on the formation of a new post-Soviet generation, that in the 1990s started with the feeling of homelessness and came to the responsibility for the “last territory” you have to fight for. In the center of this talk is the autobiography of this generation as it is reflected and depicted in Serhiy Zhadan’s texts. It will argue that this generation is one of the main symbolic targets that Russia wants to destroy and to colonize, erasing its memory and history.

Ukrainian Mass Culture and Symbols of Resistance to Russian Aggression by Serhy Yekelchyk

This talk will analyze the nature of such iconic images of Ukrainian defiance as “the Russian ship” meme, Patron the mine-sniffing dog, the kitchen cabinet, and others. It will identify the cultural logic that endeared them to the mass audience, while other such cultural symbols never gained wide popular appeal or remained in the limelight only briefly.

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.