Embedded Files
“Last month in Kyiv, Spanish artist Seila Fernández Arconada initiated a collective artistic space focusing on poetic-political encounters with the Dnipro River. “This river is the main artery of this country providing life; however, during this war it also became a border, a front line of aggression. The river is a direct witness of this war.” Seila conducted a series of collective artistic activities to explore the more-than-human interdependency on an ecosystem at risk. During the last week of Seila’s stay in Kyiv, we are inviting you to this meeting, where we will gather diverse voices to examine the Dnipro's multifaceted role, addressing the ecological consequences of war, historical connections, and the potential for artistic and scientific perspectives to foster a renewed sense of belonging. We will consider the ecocide consequences of the Kakhovka dam destruction and the ways in which art and music can address the ecological issues.
To participate, please register via the ink: https://inshaosvita.typeform.com/to/U6hoPihI
The number of participants is limited by the capacity of the space.
We invite you to think about your relationship to the river together with:
Seila Fernández Arconada is a multidisciplinary artist-researcher whose practice focuses on contemporary ecosocial uncertainties, particularly in watery territories. Through situated collaborations, her practice aims to address these pressing environmental and social challenges by nurturing transdisciplinary, embodied learning, sense of belonging, decoloniality, ecofeminism, and trauma-informed practices. She has worked with various water bodies internationally, including the Amazon River, currently working on “Dnipro River: Ecosocial Belonging in War Time”.
Tetiana Gardashuk, Dr. Hab. in Philosophy, the Head of the Department of Logic and Methodology of Science, H. Skovoroda Institute of Philosophy, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine. The field of scientific interest is the philosophy of science, eco-philosophy, bioethics, and environmental ethics. After 24 February, Tetiana Gardashuk has been focusing efforts on the topic of the environmental impacts and nuclear threats of war, ecocide, and the methodology of environmental peacebuilding. Currently, Tetiana focuses her research on the future of the Kakhovka HPP area, concerning the broader context of the Dnipro River's multiple values.
Illia Razumeiko, co-founder of Opera Aperta laboratory, composer and director of GAIA-24. Opera del mondo performance. The project is based on exploration of the results of destructive human activities on the global ecological situation, and particularly Russian invasion in Ukraine, that tries to find new ways to speak about ecology on a music theatre stage, find new performance, body, voice, music methodologies and develop “extended” scenography that can connect human body, theatrical space, and surrounding “cosmos” in terms of natural, cultural and political environment.
Kateryna Sydelnikova, an ethnomusicologist, singer, and researcher of Ukrainian folklore, originally from the Zaporizhzhia region. Her interest in and respect for Ukrainian folklore were cultivated from a young age through her creative work in the authentic folklore group "Nadvechir’ya" in the village of Vodyane. She specializes in studying vocal and instrumental traditions. Kateryna also collaborates with Ukrainian artisans, promoting cultural heritage.
Seila Fernández Arconada worked in Ukraine on the project“Dnipro River: Ecosocial Belonging in War Time” in the frame of the mobility grant “Culture Moves Europe” and developed it in partnership with Insha Osvita. “
Photos by Oleksii Havryliuk, Seila Fernández Arconada and Tetiana Gardashuk
Thank you to all who came to "Dnipro River: Who are you?" it was such a rich plural space. All the views from the Dnipro River brought us closer to the complexities of the current times, to the past and ancestral knowledge and traditional folklore songs about the Dnipro, to the relational narratives between water bodies, direct experiences with the Dnipro as well as the ecocides in the river such Kakhovka's dam destruction. It is a vast topic, vast as the many drops of water contained in this river, however, this space has opened up many questions about urgent topics that I wish to continue being working on.
Thank you so much to the speakers, moderator Olia Diatel and Opera Aperta for hosting the space in such welcoming way, as well as all the people who attended to this event.
This section will be the "blank canvas" where works and interventions will be shared. The artist is creating a new body of multidisciplinary artistic work as response and exploration done during the project-placement.
"The War Didn't Come to me, I came to it", is a frame that expands the research from the Dnipro river, tangled from the river towards other reflections and ecosocial compleixities immersed on the ongoing war. This sentence is overall a statement based on the "privilege" to have came to the war by choice rather than a war coming to me, where choices might not exist. I have repeated this sentence many times to remark the how different those positions are and how much support has to be enacted rather than verbalised.
"I have been in Ukraine around 8 months since russian full-scale invasion: from running collaborative artistic projects such “Post Truth, Countering Disinformation Narratives” to focusing in humanitarian actions or learning about trauma and art to support people affected by war. This previous experience has given me the believe that artistic practice has a lot to offer in such context, not only with other narratives, other languages and perspectives but healing and empowerment to those who experience it. I commit to create a respectful and meaningful body of work as result".
---------------------------------------------------
"Цей розділ стане "чистим полотном", де будуть представлені поточні процеси та мистецькі роботи. Художниця створює новий пласт міждисциплінарних мистецьких робіт як реакцію та дослідження, проведені під час проєкту-резиденції.
"Війна не прийшла до мене, я прийшов до неї" – це рамка, яка розширює дослідження річки Дніпро, розгалужуючись від річки до інших роздумів та екосоціальних складнощів, занурених у триваючу війну. Це речення загалом є твердженням, заснованим на "привілеї" прийти до війни за вибором, ніж війна прийшла до мене, де вибору може не існувати. Я повторювала це речення багато разів, щоб підкреслити, наскільки різними є ці дві позиції, і скільки підтримки повинно надаватись через дію, а не лише на словах.
"Я перебуваю в Україні близько 8 місяців з початку повномасштабного російського вторгнення: від проведення спільних мистецьких проєктів, таких як "Постправда, протидія дезінформаційним наративам", до зосередження на гуманітарних акціях або вивчення травми та мистецтва для підтримки людей, постраждалих від війни. Цей попередній досвід дав мені віру в те, що мистецька практика може запропонувати багато в даному контексті, не лише іншими наративами, іншими мовами та перспективами, але й зцілення та розширення можливостей для тих, хто переживає цей досвід. Я зобов'язуюсь створити шанобливий та змістовний пласт робіт як результат."
Page updated
Google Sites
Report abuse