The War in Ukraine :
A Cultural Conflict And The Art World's Response
Russia and Ukraine have a long history of conflict, both physically and culturally, and now history is beginning to repeat itself during the current war in Ukraine, however, those involved in the world of art internationally, are doing as much as they can to preserve Ukraine’s art and culture.
The Russian-Ukrainian conflict has been an ongoing issue since 2014, however since Russia began its active invasion of Ukraine on the 24th of February this year, the world’s attention has fallen on the two countries, fearful of what the outcome could mean for the rest of the world. This has led to many changes within the world of arts and culture for both Russia and Ukraine.
Russia is currently being excluded from major cultural and arts events. The country has been banned from participating in Eurovision; the EBU stated that “The decision reflects concern that, in light of the unprecedented crisis in Ukraine, the inclusion of a Russian entry in this year’s Contest would bring the competition into disrepute.”(European Broadcasting Union, 2022). Russia was also not featured in the 2022 Venice Biennale after the Curator of the Russian Pavilion Raimundas Malašauskas announced his resignation in an Instagram post stating “I cannot advance on working on this project in light of Russia’s military invasion and bombing of Ukraine”, and artists Alexandra Sukhareva and Kirill Savchenkov announced they were pulling out of the event in a Facebook post stating “There is no place for art when civilians are dying under the fire of missiles”.
There have also been calls from the art community for Russia to be banned from other international exhibitions such as Documenta and the Art Basel. A statement released by UKRINFORM, the Ukrainian multimedia platform for broadcasting appealed for
“sanctions that would limit Russia’s presence within the international cultural arena” - (ukrinform.net)
They suggest that Russians should be banned from “competing in international competitions, and from participation in international exhibitions, forums and other cultural events including contemporary art exhibitions and fairs” (ukrinform.net).
Though only a few international events have officially banned Russia from participation, some artists have decided to take matters into their own hands.
The group exhibition Diversity United aimed to represent Europe as a concept, with 90 different artists from 34 different countries taking part in the exhibition. The show was on display at the New Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow from 23rd November 2021 - March 13th 2022, however, this led to controversy after the exhibition received funding and support directly from President Vladimir Putin after Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. This led to 9 out of the 90 artists deciding to pull out of the exhibition, and some curators called for the event's closure.
As of 15th March 2022, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, the United States, and the European Union have announced a ban on exports of high-end luxury goods to Russia, which includes art; “The export ban will come into force shortly and will make sure oligarchs and other members of the elite, who have grown rich under President Putin’s reign and support his illegal invasion, are deprived of access to luxury goods.” (www.gov.uk). The international trade secretary of the UK, Anne-Marie Trevelyan said in a statement that “The UK stands shoulder to shoulder with our international partners in our determination to punish Putin for his barbaric actions in Ukraine, and we will continue our work to starve his regime of the funds that enable him to carry them out.”.
Despite the support from the art community and governments to restrict Russia in the cultural arena, there is still the question of is it the correct thing to do? After all one could argue that the people of Russia are just as much victim the war as Ukraine; A survey by the Levied Center in 2020 stated “Half of Russian residents (51%) and half of Ukrainian residents (51%) believe that both states should be independent, but friendly”, and after the invasion of Ukraine thousands of Russians took to the streets in several different cities to protest the war, leading to the imprisonment of almost 6,000 citizens across the country (statista.com).
It is clear that some people within Russia’s art community are heavily against the war, one example of this is 31 - year- old Artist Alexandra Skochilenko from Saint Petersburg, who has been arrested and faces charges of over 10 years in prison for spreading ‘false information’. The artist took to a grocery store in Kazan to passively protest the war by replacing price tags with anti-war statements, in a statement written by Alexandra from a temporary detention centre she said “No matter what my accusers try to do with me, no matter how they try to trample me into the dirt, humiliate me, place me in the most inhuman conditions, I will take out the brightest, most incredible and beautiful from this experience - this is the essence of being an artist.” She goes on to describe the “vile and manipulative methods” used in her investigation, and even apologises to the ex-employees of the shop, who lost their jobs due to the incident. Seeing as incidents like this are beginning to become commonplace amongst those against the war in Russia, it leaves the question of is it ethical to sanction the Russian art world?
Internationally, people involved in the arts have clambered together to support Ukrainian artists; the Ukrainian colours of blue and yellow with the hashtag #StandWithUkraine can be found dotted around social media in support for the country. People are desperate to help the Ukrainian cause in whichever way they can.
An Instagram titled “Art World Ukraine” (AWU) has dedicated itself to showing international support for Ukrainian artists by showcasing their work on their account. AWU has also compiled a list of resources “for Ukrainian artists and arts workers constantly provided by international institutions” (artworldukraine.org), including where displaced Ukrainian artists can find grants, residences, and shelters internationally.
AWU is run by two Kyiv natives; Olena is an 18-year-old philosophy student and a social media manager for Art and Tech accelerator who currently resides in the western part of Ukraine, though her family currently lives in Kyiv, her hometown. Denis is a 40-year-old art economist and an art and tech entrepreneur, he was born in Kyiv and currently runs a business in New York, though he has been frequently visiting his hometown since the beginning of the war.
“Since the war started, we decided to proceed with our work – educating Art+Tech startups, course we should look forward. Then we realised that we should do something for Ukrainian art” stated Denis.
When Olena and Denis decided to stay in Ukraine during the war, they decided to “become online connectors with those who require help on both sides of the border”.
“Denis offered me to create a channel with support sources for the artists. While developing the idea for Art World Ukraine, we understood that our main goal is to build a foundation for incredibly talented and passionate artists of our country.” Said Olena.
“I decided that’s my destiny and honour, to stand with my people in these times”.
- Denis
For Denis and Olena, “The idea to start helping artists and art curators was natural, course we saw how art was important, inspiring people to struggle and believe in better future. We believe that the artist in this tragic situation is the main figure among the civilian population because they have strong online presence, and they have a strong voice.” Said Denis.
Denis and Olena have currently compiled a list of over 85 sources to support Ukrainian artists from over 30 different countries. “Currently, international artists and curators from France, Hong Kong, the Netherlands, Malaysia, and the USA have supported the Art World Ukraine platform.” Stated Denis.
As for the sanctions put against Russia in the cultural arena, Olena says “I want to focus my efforts on the development of my country’s art not the destruction of another’s.”
Despite many in the art world agreeing with the sanctions put in place, there is also the argument that the focus should be on showcasing, supporting, and rebuilding the world of Ukrainian culture and arts. Olena states that creating “International institutions for Ukrainian artists” is AWU's priority.
Exhibitions of Ukrainian art have been created and held in countries such as Poland, the Netherlands, Germany, and Great Britain, and “in several cases we connected artists and the galleries” said Denis, and since the Ukrainian and Russian conflict, Denis says “the number of requests for purchasing from Ukrainian artists increased”.
Despite the number of requests for Ukrainian art, actually selling the art has proven to be difficult during the invasion; “the Saatchi Art platform has disabled direct sales of original works by Ukrainian artists, saying that “they cannot be delivered from a disadvantaged region.” And this is at a time when art collectors and ordinary people are ready to transfer money to them and pay for works regardless of delivery - they are just wanting to help!” Stated Denis.
Denis stresses that sanctions on Russian art intrinsically means sanctions on Ukrainian art too; “We should admit that, unfortunately, against the background of anti-Russian sanctions, many major players do not think about how this will affect Ukraine. Sotheby's and Christie's have joined the Western world by canceling "Russian sales". But I still have not heard from the leading auction houses how Ukrainian artists will continue to be sold – because they were traditionally sold at Russian sales. Will there be a separate day for sales of Ukrainian art? Or will they finally be able to enter the international sales of contemporary art? And who will represent Ukrainian collectors - sellers and buyers? Since the beginning of 2000, all issues on Ukrainian art were resolved through the Moscow offices of Sotheby's and Christie’s.”
Sotheby’s and Christie’s have both canceled their London auctions of Russian art following regulations and sanctions put on specific Russian companies and oligarchs, however, the two top auction houses of the world are yet to actually do anything in support of Ukraine.
“The artistic community faces the same risks as the entire Ukrainian society does.” (Biedarieva, 2022) said Maria Kulikovska in a 2022 article focusing on Ukrainian artists and their experiences of “displacement and migration” (Biedarieva, 2022).
Ukrainian society faces the biggest risks during the war, the Lancet - SIGHT commission, “an independent and international commission dedicated to generating new knowledge and evidence on the relationship between health equity, gender equality, conflict, and peace, and practical recommendations on how health equity and gender equality interventions can contribute to more peaceful societies” (https://sight.nu/about-the-commission/) describes the impact in one of their online articles:
“The indiscriminate use of weaponry violates international humanitarian law and has caused catastrophic health impacts, especially on children, older people, and disabled persons, and social and economic disruptions that will be long lasting.”
- (Yamey, 2022).
Despite the impact and risks that face Ukrainian society as a result of the war, many have decided to stay in their country to fight in whichever way they can, which may involve weapons for some, and for others, it involves paints, canvases, and graphite.
“I wanted to go to the front”(Biedarieva, 2022) stated Kulikovska “but realized I would probably be quickly killed because I had never held a weapon. So I understood that my artistic practice could become a weapon” (Biedarieva, 2022). The world of Ukrainian art is familiar with themes of politics; “One of the most marking features of contemporary Ukrainian art of the 2000s was the actualisation of political issues in various kinds of creation” (Usenko, 2014) which is why its no surprise that many Ukrainian artists are using their mediums to bring awareness and support to the Ukrainian cause.
The world of art has always been influenced by the context of the modern political and social sphere, an example of this would be the surrealism art and cultural movement, which developed after World War I in Europe. Often revolving around dark, anti-militaristic, unnerving themes, and often depicting violence, and experiences of war, surrealism aimed to invoke the target audience to question the state of society and politics, much like the current influx of art coming out of Ukraine since the beginning of active warfare.
Anton Pedos is a 23- year-old Ukrainian artist currently studying at Vilnius Art Academy in Lithuania. He has recently come into the spotlight and featured on Art World Ukraine for his ongoing project entitled ‘4470’, in which he is hand painting thousands of portraits to visualise the number of Ukrainian fatalities involved in the Ukrainian and Russian war. He uses his Instagram account to help share his work with the world and has currently amassed over 2,900 followers.
Speaking about his ‘4470’ project Anton says that the “Main thing that I wanted to, of course, was draw attention to the problem, and also the visualisation of the number, because when someone is saying the number just 1000, we are not always visualising it in our brain and we cannot realise how it's like, 1000 dead bodies in one room, but when you see these at least painted portraits, you can realise maybe not fully, but at least you're capturing it with your brain, with your subconscious”.
For actually creating the project Anton used a 4ft base painted with red acrylics, and for the actual portraits he used oil paints.
When asked about his inspiration for the project Anton said “I think that Inspiration is myth, true artists just do work, they’re just working on their own projects and so on, they just want to bring something to this world and also to speak out some problems that we have, so I see it like I just have a problem, and I am speaking about this.”
This project for Anton is a way to express how the war has affected him firsthand; “I would like my art to speak more” says Anton “in active face of full-scale war, it affected me a lot because a lot of my friends they escaped from their homes, also my parents they are still in Ukraine they just cannot leave their job because they are working for a very important organisation, and of course, it's every day you are calling your parents, your relatives, and asking are you okay? Are you at least alive? Are you at least can answer my call? Or message? Every day, it's really hard.” Anton stated.
This project is extremely personal to Anton, but it also expresses how the war is extremely personal to every citizen of Ukraine; “this war started eight years ago actually, and in 2014 I lost my Uncle there, and also his portrait is also included in this series of work, and there is also, kind of personal art of this project.”
“Its quite hard because I’m analysing all these portraits, I understand that they all have something that they left, families, it's hard, it's like all the time I’m trying to live their lives when I paint their portraits, also when you are realising that there is one portrait but then another, and then also more and more and more, your feeling like when is it going to end? When is it going to be finished? All of this? And you are realising that it's not going to come soon.” Said Anton.
This project, like the war, is still currently ongoing, as more people become casualties of war, Anton paints more portraits. Anton stated he is “ fighting with more problems because, I'm realising that this project is infinite right now, and at the same time when I am speaking about this project it is really hard to not get into propaganda, and not get to into speculation”.
“I don’t like when it's saying conflict, it’s war. And Its war, it's cruel, and really hard.”
-Anton Pedos
Anton is currently finishing up his final year of studies and plans to return to his home in Ukraine to try and help in whichever way possible. He is bringing awareness to the Ukrainian cause through his art, however, he stated “I still have this feeling like I am not doing enough, and it's kind of a fight with my own feelings.”.
“To fight you need to learn how to do this, and probably, there are a lot more people who can do it better than me because physically, I’m not that strong” he said, however, the war is just as much of a fight for Ukrainian culture as it is a physical fight for the actual country.
When asked about the cultural sanctions set in place for Russia Anton said “cultural sanctions they are really important because for example, what are we fighting for if we do not have any culture? Actually, Ukraine fighting against Russia not only for land but also for culture because a lot of artists a lot of cultural stuff were just stolen by Russians”
There has of course been a lot of support for Ukraine internationally, however it is easy to separate oneself from the war when you are not in the active face of it. Anton said "I think people all around the world should like say to their governments like please, do something, and go to rallies and go to manifestations, and ask your government do more. Just do more. And support more. It's of course it's a lot of support, but it's not enough”.
As of right now, Ukraine is doing what it can to preserve its culture and historical art pieces; museums across Ukraine are creating full digital catalogues of their inventory, and there are even reports of art being hidden in bunkers and basements of museums, all to preserve Ukrainian art and culture after a statement from ICOM (the international council on museums) stating “After first securing their own safety, ICOM advises all its members to recall their professional obligations under the ICOM Code of Ethics for Museums to preserve, maintain and promote heritage and ensure their museums and collections are protected against all varieties of risk, including in conflict.”.
Historically, Ukraine is no stranger to cultural warfare through the destruction of art; after Russia invaded and annexed Crimea in 2014, many pieces of art integral to national culture were transferred to Russian museums, and even before that, artwork was stolen from Ukraine by Nazi soldiers during World War II and moved to Germany.
Edward Nock, 23, who is a history student at the University of Worcester and has specialised in Russian history in the past said “I think its fair to say that Russia and Ukraine have always been linked, like Kievan Rus’ was the birthplace of ‘Russian’ civilisation, and seat of the first ruling dynasty in the Rus, which you might now as The Rurik dynasty, it all goes back to the Vikings.”
He stated that “In the 10th and the 11th centuries, they were the most powerful state in all of Europe, and the state was made up of what we know as, Ukraine, Russia and Belarus, so even from the beginning the countries have been culturally and physically linked.”
There has been a pattern throughout history of Russia committing crimes against culture when it comes to trying to annex Ukraine; Edward said “There was this policy from the Tsardom of Russia and the Russian Empire called Russification, in which basically, the Tsars tried to suppress the Ukrainian language and culture to essentially assimilate the former lands of Kievan Rus’ into their empire.”
One of the policy’s greatest supporters was “Alexander the Second who was Tsar Nicholas the Seconds grandad, and he legislated for official Russification policy after the polish revolt in 1863, as a means of suppressing the culture of the ethnic minorities within the Russian Empire, to avoid further rebellion as a way to consolidate his power.” stated Edward.
This policy also affected the arts; “Alexander the Second also issued a decree in 1876 that restricted the publication and sale of Ukrainian literature to help remove Ukrainian language from schools, theatres, and arts” said Edward.
“This idea of repressing culture to help win wars is nothing new.”
-Edward Nock
“And going further back than that, there was of course the annexation of the Metropolitanate of Kyiv by the Moscow Patriarchate in 1685, and to this day the Patriarchate of Moscow has still refused to recognise the full independence of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, so the suppression of Ukrainian culture has been done through more means than just literature and arts, it has also been done through religion too. And of course all of this was before the age of the Soviet Union.” Said Edward.
It must also not be ignored that Ukraine only became independent of the Soviet Union in 1991 after its collapse, and the country is “now at risk of once again losing their lives, culture, and independence at the hands of yet another Russian dictator.” (Coleman, Laura Edythe S, 2022) which is why so many civilians are doing all they can to preserve museums and the art inside them.
Art is a big part of national and cultural identity for every country, which is why the destruction of art is so intrinsically linked with war;
“Putin considers Ukraine a part of Russia and therefore denies its heritage. He knows that without art, Ukraine will have a weaker identity.”
- Chirinos, 2022.
By taking part in the destruction of Ukrainian cultural sites and the art that surrounds them, Russia is also ignoring The Hague Convention (1954) constructed by UNESCO (The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation) which states “any damage to cultural property, irrespective of the people it belongs to, is a damage to the cultural heritage of all humanity because every people contribute to the world's culture.” (Coleman, Laura‐Edythe S, 2022), which was signed and agreed upon by the Russian Federation in 1957.
To current date ( 2nd May 2022) a grand total of 120 cultural sites, including 51 religious sites, 10 museums, 24 historic sites, 13 cultural activity sites, 15 monuments, and 7 libraries have been damaged/destroyed in Ukraine because of the ongoing war, as confirmed by UNESCO.
There have now also been reports of Russian troops replacing Ukrainian signs in an attempt to annex the occupied territories, and journalist Olga Tokariuk even stated they are banning Ukrainian books in an attempt to ban the Ukrainian language.
It is clear that we can see history beginning to repeat itself during the war, and that culture in Ukraine needs to be protected, and that can happen through supporting Ukrainian artists; there are some support systems put into place to protect artists and the culture that surrounds them. Organisations such as artists at risk, a non-profit dedicated to helping art-migrants find safe passage and places to live through a network of resources, and funds such as the artist protection fund, created by the institute of international education to help artists in a threatening situation. The French government have also announced a €1 million relief fund for Ukrainian artists and art workers that have been displaced by the war. We are now seeing Ukrainian artists take matters into their own hands to protect Ukrainian art through NFTs.
NFT stands for a non-fungible token, which essentially means that the token is unique and cannot be replaced by anything, they are a unique line of code locked into the Ethereum blockchain, (Ethereum is a cryptocurrency and a blockchain) and the tokens are often associated with digital artwork, though it can be anything digital; the NFT can be seen as a record of the artwork but is not the actual artwork itself.
The way sales of NFTs work is by locking ownership of the unique line of code associated with the artwork; it’s like owning the first-ever copy/record of something. NFTs are often seen as the new way to collect fine art in the digital sphere. Recently Christie’s became the first international auction house to sell an NFT; the work by the digital artist known as Beeple sold for $69 million.
The use of NFTs has essentially created an entirely new marketplace out of thin air that completely ignores the structure of a traditional market.
The issue with NFTs is that someone could easily copy and download the exact same file and code of an image as the person that may have spent millions to own said image, so there is an ongoing debate of what is the point? Well as previously stated you are not paying to necessarily own the actual digital image, you are paying to own the unique line of code associated with the image, which acts as the first living record of the image.
The issue is the question of what if the art disappears? It is separate from the record of the image that people are paying for, and if the image is lost, the NFT becomes worthless because it is a record of nothing. But again the same argument could be made for the traditional ownership of art; what if the art gets damaged or destroyed? Then the piece also becomes worthless. It is an ongoing debate in online communities and art communities alike, however, only time will tell if NFTs are a sustainable new way to sell art or not. Speaking of sustainability, another argument against NFTs is that in order to create NFTs cryptocurrency needs to be mined, and this is notoriously bad for the environment as in order to mine cryptocurrency, a large amount of electricity needs to be used to fuel powerful mining computers. This has caused blackouts in some areas and is notoriously bad for the environment, however you could argue that NFTs are not the problem and that the ‘crypto-obsessed’ entrepreneurs are, either way this should be taken into consideration when discussing NFTs.
Lika Spivakovska is a 38-year-old owner of two art galleries in Kyiv; she had to close the two galleries after the Russian invasion and was the main point of contact for many artists that were stuck in Ukraine after their workshops, studios, homes, and livelihoods were destroyed, so she decided to help these artists through a partnership with an NFT gallery in Puerto Rico. Images of art that had been damaged/created during the war were digitised and made into NFTs, and eventually sold to help give income to artists currently struggling in Ukraine.
Waone Interesni Kazki, a famous Ukrainian artist also began selling NFTs to raise funds for Ukraine; he released a collection of NFTs entitled “Art Against War”, in which 100% of the funds raised are set to be automatically stored in a public wallet, and sent directly to those still in Ukraine by a public blockchain.
The Ukrainian government has now also announced it will be accepting contributions toward the war effort in the form of NFT. The Aid for Ukraine website has added a section where users can donate or buy NFTs to contribute towards supplying Ukrainians with medical kits, weaponry, and other expenses caused by the war, through the Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine.
The best part about the sale of NFTs however, is that you can donate directly to the artist; as of right now there is an outcry of Ukrainian artists on social media trying to sell their work through NFTs to sustain themselves throughout the war, some people may find fundraisers and auctions inaccessible, but through the sale of NFTs you can completely bypass traditional sales methods such as auction houses and galleries that donate to charities, and directly support an artist of your choosing by doing a little bit of research on social media.
Although it has been difficult for people in Ukraine to sell their physical art pieces, all around the world there have been art fundraisers and art initiatives to raise money to help those in Ukraine. Pictures for Purpose is a foundation founded in 2020, is an initiative aimed at raising money for urgent causes through photography, and in March 2022 they helped to raise over €250 for World Central Kitchen, a non-profit that sends meals and fresh food to those who may be struggling in Ukraine through the sale of prints.
The Tanya Bonakdar Gallery which specialises in the sale of contemporary art and is located in New York City and Los Angeles announced in a statement “a sale of important works by gallery artists with 100% of proceeds donated to relief organizations helping to alleviate the suffering of those seeking refuge from the conflict in Ukraine.”, artists such as Uta Barth, Martin Boyce, Sandra Cinto, Phil Collins, and Mark Dion have all given work to help support this cause. All donations will be given to three charities: The International Committee of The Red Cross who have been working in Ukraine since 2014 offering emergency assistance such as food, water, and healthcare facilities, FUNDACJA OCALENIE who are a Polish charity helping people migrating from Ukraine to Poland, and The Voices of Children Foundation who have been working in Ukraine since 2015 by providing psychological and psychosocial support to children affected by the war.
The Cambridge contemporary art gallery also announced a fundraiser for Ukraine in a statement saying “Like so many people we have been saddened and horrified by the war unfolding in Ukraine. Watching the news day after day we felt helpless and wanted to find a way to show our support and to raise vital funds.”. All of the funds raised from this event will go to the Disaster Emergency Committee, a committee aimed at helping those displaced from the war.
Internationally, people working in the arts everywhere are doing their best to support not just artists, but anyone displaced in Ukraine right now. So far, Candid, a website that collects data on the funding being sent to Ukraine has summarised that over $1,000,000,000 of grants have been donated to Ukraine, and over $670,000,000 worth of pledges for Ukraine have been tracked.