Ukraine-uk connections - art, heritage and the climate crisis
Join us for an evening of discussion with Alexandra Krolikowska and Karolina Uskakovych, whose artistic practice as a response to the climate crisis makes connections between communities, heritage and the industrial pasts of the UK and Ukraine.
Date: Wednesday, 1 March, 2023
Time: 17:00-19:00
Place: The Common Room (lecture theatre), Neville Hall, Westgate Road, Newcastle, NE1 1SE (a few minutes’ walk from Newcastle Central station and ten minutes from Haymarket and Eldon Square bus stations).
Reserve your place on Eventbrite.
(Re)Grounding is a new visual arts programme inviting artists from Ukraine to explore the climate emergency through research residencies at D6 in Newcastle. In discussion with D6’s curator in residence Lucy Nychai, Alexandra and Karolina will share their ideas and artistic work generated as part of the project so far.
We'd love to make this an opportunity for discussion, and there will be plenty of time for questions and contributions from the audience.
As part of the UK/Ukraine Season of Culture devised jointly by the British Council and the Ukrainian Institute, (Re)Grounding is a partnership between IZOLYATSIA and D6. As visual arts producers, we share the importance of supporting artistic professional development, working with artists who explore urgent social and environmental issues.
Art can be a bridge between the enormity of the climate crisis and what we need to feel and do to take action. Come and join us.
17:00: Doors open
17:15: Introductions and panel discussion followed by questions and conversation
19:00: Event ends
As there are limited places, please confirm if you can make it on Eventbrite, thank you.
Find out more about (Re)Grounding here.
Date: Wednesday, 1 March, 2023
Time: 17:00-19:00
Place: The Common Room (lecture theatre), Neville Hall, Westgate Road, Newcastle, NE1 1SE (a few minutes’ walk from Newcastle Central station and ten minutes from Haymarket and Eldon Square bus stations).
Reserve your place on Eventbrite.
(Re)Grounding is a new visual arts programme inviting artists from Ukraine to explore the climate emergency through research residencies at D6 in Newcastle. In discussion with D6’s curator in residence Lucy Nychai, Alexandra and Karolina will share their ideas and artistic work generated as part of the project so far.
We'd love to make this an opportunity for discussion, and there will be plenty of time for questions and contributions from the audience.
As part of the UK/Ukraine Season of Culture devised jointly by the British Council and the Ukrainian Institute, (Re)Grounding is a partnership between IZOLYATSIA and D6. As visual arts producers, we share the importance of supporting artistic professional development, working with artists who explore urgent social and environmental issues.
Art can be a bridge between the enormity of the climate crisis and what we need to feel and do to take action. Come and join us.
17:00: Doors open
17:15: Introductions and panel discussion followed by questions and conversation
19:00: Event ends
As there are limited places, please confirm if you can make it on Eventbrite, thank you.
Find out more about (Re)Grounding here.
MEET the Speakers
ALEXANDRA KROLIKOWSKAAlexandra is a multidisciplinary artist and psychologist. Having grown up in the mining area of Donetsk, Ukraine, she explores the impact of industrial heritage on the climate crisis. The (Re)Grounding residency at D6 has given her the opportunity to connect with this past and the history of mining.
Through a series of conceptual still life photographs, drawing parallels between the past of miners' lives in Ukraine and England, she builds a metaphorical narrative, questioning the ethics of the exploitation of the Earth. Using common objects from daily life, Alexandra places coal and related items among fruits and flowers. The objects are saturated by symbolic and mythological meanings, as well as connected to the idea of extracting something out of the earth or going underground. Exploring how mythological scenarios are manifested in the modern world, Alexandra compares miners’ work with the Ancient Greek idea of ‘katabasis’, a Hero’s journey to the underworld – usually going through dangers to the realm of the unknown in order to find a treasure. During the conversation, Alexandra will share the thinking behind the development of this work, the symbols and metaphors she is using to dig deep into our reliance on fossil fuels and our attitudes to nature and its exploitation. 
MYKHAILO GLUBOKYIMykhailo is the development director of IZOLYATSIA, a platform for cultural initiatives that was established in 2010, and which was originally located in a former insulation materials factory in Donetsk, Ukraine. The organisation aims to effect systemic change in Ukrainian society and implements projects on the local and European levels.
During the last decade, IZOLYATSIA became a symbol of the resilience of the Ukrainian cultural sector and continues to champion democratic values based on the belief that cultural institutions are pillars of a free democratic society. Mykhailo has been a part of the foundation since 2011, implementing site-specific, participatory community-oriented cultural projects and turning various industrial places into vibrant cultural spaces. Since 2021, he has also been a board member the European network of cultural centres, Trans Europe Halles, and a member of the consortium implementing the Creative Europe mobility scheme for artists and cultural professionals, i-Portunus. Ever since 2019, Mykhailo has focused on collaboration with local communities, capacity building for rural areas, support for cultural decentralisation and international collaboration, especially in East of Ukraine and Eastern and Central European regions. Also, beginning in 2014, he has been involved in developing the IZONE creative hub, as well as residencies and educational programs for creative entrepreneurs, artists, and cultural professionals. |
KAROLINA USKAKOVYCHKarolina is a designer, artist, and photographer whose practice examines entanglements of nature, culture and technology.
The concept of traditional ecological knowledge - local learnings and rituals that are passed on over generations - is central to her work. While the concept has largely applied to indigenous groups, Karolina has deployed it more widely to think through ecological knowledge accumulated over generations in other contexts. In Ukraine, for example, traditional ecological knowledge continues to play a key part in many people’s lives, as it has historically in the UK, and perhaps still does in some spheres of life, such as communal gardens, allotments, and amongst artisans and sustainable businesses. Connected to this, Karolina is also interested in the spirit of place – Genius Loci – which is often depicted as a snake in Roman mythology. To explore these themes, she has been getting her hands dirty, experimenting with earthly and agricultural materials – soil, compost, grain and salt dough – that emphasise the fluid connections between humans, technologies and nature. During the conversation, she will share the thinking behind this work and her ideas for filming a visual essay in partnership with communal gardens in the North East. 
Lucy NychaiLucy is our curator in residence, building on previous collaborations with D6 over the past six years. During her time with D6, Lucy is connecting with artists in exile and those working more widely across the arts in the North East - many of whom have sought refuge in the UK. Through this she is finding out what support is needed for Ukrainian artists and other creatives in the area, as well as creating opportunities to promote Ukrainian artists in the UK.
As a producer for (Re)Grounding, Lucy has been supporting the artists during their residency and its programme of activity. Lucy founded the NVAIR residency space in 2017 and during the war transformed it into emergency accommodation. NVAIR is in the Ternopil region of western Ukraine and on the route many were taking to escape Russia’s invasion in the east. It became known as the art shelter and also provided food, medicine and supplies to those in need. Since the war, Lucy and fellow curators have formed a collective called Internal Elements. As well as applying for funds to support artists still in Ukraine to continue their practice, they support artists exhibit and sell their work online in the crypto market. When it’s near impossible to show art physically in Ukraine, the digital marketplace trading in cryptocurrency designed to work as a medium of exchange through a computer network has come into its own as a way to profile artwork and raise funds. |