Artistic Practices, Cultural Work and the War in Ukraine

On Friday, Berlin based initiatives that support displaced artist and cultural workers in Germany and Ukraine are invited to a round of discussions. The day is centred around sharing knowledge on structures and making connections with colleagues and institutions, while exploring how to contribute to the visibility and sustainability of cultural workers and bottom-up initiatives in times of the war in Ukraine. The panel discussion is moderated by Zippora Elders, Head of Curatorial Department and Outreach at the Gropius Bau.

This event deals with themes related to the war in Ukraine, violence, racism and displacement.

BIPoC Ukraine & Friends in Germany is a mutual aid community of BIPoC (Black/Indigenous/People of Color) who fled to Germany due to the Russian war in Ukraine and their friends. The community is a focal point for advice, support and self-help while also being a space for empowerment, political activism, and advocacy addressing and raising awareness for the unfair treatment of BIPoC from Ukraine in Germany. For more information, visit bipocukraine.org.

International Coalition of Cultural Workers Against the War in Ukraine is an open online platform that collects, shares and distributes statements against war made by artists from all over the world. Driven by the Russian aggression and war against Ukraine, this platform presents an opportunity to protest against war, dictatorship, and authoritarianism. It is an opportunity to express solidarity with those in Ukraine who are affected by the Russian military aggression, and with those resisting colonial, patriarchal, imperialistic, and political repressions and terror elsewhere. The coalition was initiated by Anna Chistoserdova, Valentina Kiselyova, Aleksander Komarov, Lena Prents, Antonina Stebur, Maxim Tyminko, Natasha Chychasova, Tatiana Kochubinska and Oxana Gourinovitch. For more information, visit antiwarcoalition.art.

∄ is a Kyiv based cultural institution and safer space founded in November 2019. ∄ organizes a variety of cultural, artistic and educational events (concerts, exhibitions, public panels, lectures, parties etc). K41 Community Fund is a project initiated by the team of ∄ with the aim to provide financial, humanitarian and logistical support to the musical and cultural community that has been facing life-threatening challenges since the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. For more information, visit k41community.fund.

Vitsche e.V. is a grassroots organisation aiming to strengthen Ukrainian cultural and political voices and to deliver support Ukrainians through direct humanitarian help and fundraising campaigns. It further helps Ukrainians who faced discrimination or violent assaults. Vitsche was founded by young Ukrainians and Germans and works together closely with artists from Ukraine to represent modern international perception of Ukrainian culture in music, film, visual and performative arts disciplines.

Dekoloniale Memory Culture in the City was initiated in January 2020 as a cultural project to critically deal with the history of colonialism and its consequences. The premise of the project is that, although not always visible, the colonial past is omnipresent. This can also be said about the reverberations of the colonialism that emanated from Germany into the world and especially Berlin as former colonial metropolis and capital of the German Reich, for which Berlin wants to face its responsibility.

Back Home is curated by Zippora Elders and Julia Grosse, with the support of Leonie Schmiese, Lijuan Klassen and Sarah Crowe.