Ukraine in Focus: Decolonisation and Cultural Responsibility

As part of the Season of Ukraine in France, Le Voyage en Ukraine, and following the conversation held at the National Institute of Art History – INHA last February on the decolonisation of Ukrainian art, this event offers an immersion into contemporary Ukrainian artistic practices through a reflection on the landscape as a political, ecological, and mnemonic space. 

Conceived by Natalia Matsenko, currently in residence at the Cité internationale des arts with the support of the City of Paris, the Institut fraçais and the Ukrainian Institute, the evening opens with a screening of films by contemporary Ukrainian artists Katya Buchatska and Yuri Yefanov. Their practices explore landscapes in transition, post-industrial and post-colonial terrains shaped by the experience of war, while also projecting artistic visions of possible futures. 

Taking the image of the landscape as its point of departure, the evening continues with a round-table discussion bringing together institutional leaders, curators, and artists. The conversation focuses on the lived experiences of Ukrainian artists working in contexts shaped by colonisation and armed conflict. The encounter aims to explore the ways in which these cultural actors contribute to redefining dominant narratives of contemporary art, proposing attentive approaches to questions of environmental justice, cultural resilience, and symbolic reconstruction while examining how to engage more responsibly, sustainably, and collaboratively with Ukrainian art scenes.  

Programme

Screenings

Katya Buchatska
This World is Recording
2023, 6’47”

Yuri Yefanov
We will definitely talk about this after the last air raid alert stops
2023-2024, 16’29”

Round-table (in English)

• Bénédicte Alliot, General Director, Cité internationale des arts
• Anastasiia Manuliak, Head of Visual Art, Ukrainian Institute  
• Natalia Matsenko, independent curator 
• Émilie Villez,  independent curator 
• Olia Fedorova, artist