Gepubliceerd
Fri, May 20, 2022, 12:40
- Spanning music, theatre, lectures and more, last Saturday's event was a momentous occasion. We spoke to people who were there.
Around 1,500 people from Kyiv's creative community gathered in the capital last weekend for a momentous one-day festival called Art-Weapon.
On Saturday, May 14th, an art centre on the grounds of a former ribbon factory in Kyiv welcomed the public once again. Home to clubs like Closer and Otel', the complex had changed drastically since the start of the latest war with Russia on February 24th. The clubs became volunteer headquarters. At Closer, paramedics were trained on the dance floor, food was cooked in its kitchen and anti-tank hedgehogs were welded by engineers.
After the first month of war, when Russian forces de-occupied the outskirts of Kyiv, the city slowly came back to life and most residents returned home. Last weekend, Art—Weapon, a day celebrating modern Ukrainian culture run by local promoter Garik Pledov in collaboration with Kosmos Tabir and Closer, brought the city's creative community together to share their experiences and feelings about the war. An event never felt so important.
Running from midday through 8 PM, Art—Weapon combined music, theatre, visual art, cinema and lectures, all spread across several venues within the factory: Otel', Closer, 24:00 Store, Lada Garden and the courtyard. The event was also a fundraiser, with all proceeds going to the Ukrainian army and and volunteer organisations.
The aim was to create a cultural dialogue between the artists and audience as a way of reflecting on the war. In times of great stress, the artists and organisers offered a different approach to life, not just utilitarian and practical. They proved once again that the purpose of art isn't entertainment, but self-knowledge.
We asked some of the artists, visitors and organisers at Art-Weapon to share their thoughts.
Monoconda (Artist)
Well, it was emotional. Each one of us had a breath of fresh air that day. Missed my mates, the community, Closer, and the music playing loud. The scene has just started to revive after Covid-19 and then Russia invaded. Any experience like this is very valuable and important these days.
Was happy to see the wonderful and beautiful people around, seeing how everybody changed in these two months. We were at an event, everything reminded me of the good old days, but when you were passing through the crowd you could've heard war talks here and there. Everyone shares the same pain and people need to talk about it with each other. That was one of the promoter's aims, I guess.
I'll be honest, my biggest highlight was my own performance because I haven't had one for months. I haven't seen the crowd in front of me, haven't been nervous an hour before the gig and all that. I'm a gig junkie—that's one of the things I like most about life, so it's been hard to live without it.
And the second highlight was, probably, the spirit in the air. The people have become way stronger and tougher. I'm more in love with my city and its people than I have ever been before.
We all need to live while we still can. We all need to keep being ourselves so we don't go nuts. So I think socialising shouldn't be stopped during the war. It just has to be reimagined a bit depending on the context. That's why the organisers made it not about dances and fun, but more about the reflections of time. My friend Koloah and I played our new music, which we'd made during or right before the war. We shared our thoughts and feelings by speaking the language of music.
Garik Pledov (Organiser)
Everything went better than we expected. We were worried about the amount of people. Nobody knows how many have returned to the city after the fighting. This event was significantly different from any I've run before. We had no ads, almost no promo. Just a few posts from the team. Despite this, nearly 1,500 people came.
We created small independent teams headed up by different curators. Each team was in charge of their stage and content. The only criteria was that the content should be influenced by the war in some way. Of course, only artists from Ukraine could participate.
The message around the naming of the event was pretty straightforward. Art is an equally important form of resistance against the aggressor. For centuries, our culture has been destroyed in every way possible. It has been mutilated, appropriated and banned. Artists have killed and their works burnt or passed off as assets. So to keep creating and showing us to the world is vital. First came the word, then the deed. First, they destroyed our culture, and then they come into our homes to destroy us.
I didn't have time to talk to many people but seeing their smiling faces was enough for me. As for the artists, and indeed everyone involved in the project, they responded to the proposal with great enthusiasm and joy. In every message or call, I could sense how much people missed their work, how energised they were and how ready they were to get involved. We are working on the next event this summer. Stay tuned.
Mariia & Magdalyna (Performers)
This event was like a blazing flash, something we've been waiting for for a long time. It was like a greeting from a happy past and a sudden realisation that this isn't my past, but my present. This event gave me great vigor, prospect for a bright future, and a sense of unity. It was an art forum that truly reflected what is happening. It was a celebration of life, unity, love, joy, creativity, art and freedom—everything that we as a nation are fighting for today.
Semen (Attendee & soldier)
I believe that events like this should be held during a war. Why not? It's cool to be able to switch your focus. It's also cool because when you come back from the war you see that life goes on. You see that everything is not in vain, and there is a normal life to which you can return.
Here are some photos from Art-Weapon.
Photos: Mumuko (Lead, TVs, Trees & flag), Andrii Bashtovyi for The Village Ukraine (Courtyard, Monoconda, Koloah, Man & woman)
Photos: Mumuko (Lead, TVs, Trees & flag), Andrii Bashtovyi for The Village Ukraine (Courtyard, Monoconda, Koloah, Man & woman)