In the “Construct” podcast we do talking over architecture, history and society, and we also introduce those who created the “Ukrainian Constructivism” multimedia venture.
We believe that cross-sectionalism and interdisciplinarity are highly important in today's world, therefore we invited some remarkable people with completely different background and activity area – from pop stars and contemporary artists to scientists and diplomats – to take part in the discussion. We ask questions that emerge from time to time in the Ukrainian informational space and that are important to us – why modernism is worth protecting and how the protection can be fulfilled.
In the first podcast episode an architect and author of the “Ukrainian Constructivism” project Ievgeniia Gubkina and a singer and composer Nata Zhyzhchenko (ONUKA) are bringing up the first experience of their cooperation in Slavutych, discussing Ukrainian history and architecture of the interwar period and reflecting on their personal connection with modernism, their own family history and on the way the modern generation can interpret hundred-year old events.
In the second podcast episode screenwriters of the “Ukrainian Constructivism” multimedia venture an architect Ievgeniia Gubkina and historian Yaroslav Perekhodko talk about interdisciplinarity in cultural projects, about Saint Sofia Cathedral in Kyiv, as the most significant architectural monument in Ukraine. They focus on the state and/or society reluctance to represent themselves through the 20th century architecture and argue the relevance of constructivism advocacy through a positive perception only.
In the third podcast episode an author of “Ukrainian Constructivism” Ievgeniia Gubkina and singer and musician Nata Zhyzhchenko (ONUKA), due to which the multimedia venture was supplied with fully-fledged music and vocal, talk about the 1920s and 1930s, their family history, memories of their great-grandparents generation, history heroification and a black-and-white view at historical personalities. In addition, they will talk about the main character of the “Ukrainian Constructivism” multimedia venture Lotte Stam-Beese, a young German modernist architect from Bauhaus school, who lived and worked in Kharkiv in the early 1930s.
In the fourth podcast episode screenwriters of the “Ukrainian Constructivism” multimedia venture, researchers and scientists Ievgeniia Gubkina and Yaroslav Perekhodko talk about the current state of Ukrainian science, institutions and prospects of independent researchers, as well as the combination of science and art in cultural interdisciplinary projects.
In the fifth podcast episode a screenwriter of the “Ukrainian Constructivism” multimedia venture, historian Yaroslav Perekhodko meets with Olena Mokrousova – chief specialist of the Kyiv Research and Methodology Center for Preservation, Conservation, and Use of Historical and Cultural Landmarks and Nature Reserves. In addition, Olena is a biographer of perhaps the most prominent architect of Kyiv in the interwar period, Pavlo Alyoshin. Therefore, the two historians talk about peculiarities of biographical research and how not to “fall in love” with the object of study, the role of architects in society and Ukraine’s proximity to Asia in architectural heritage preservation issues.
The sixth podcast episode is special, as it is released in English for the first time, and the guest of the conversation was Tanya Bayer – Consul General of the Federal Republic of Germany in Donetsk (Dnipro office). And inviting her was not an accidental decision! For many years, Urban Forms Center has been promoting Ukrainian constructivism as a cultural brand, an original and unique element of national identity. To do this, we often use means of cultural diplomacy, acquainting not only a Ukrainian but also worldwide audience with the architectural heritage. So in the episode an author of “Ukrainian Constructivism” Ievgeniia Gubkina talks to Tanya Bayer about why cultural diplomacy is needed, the role of diplomats and international community in protecting cultural heritage, and Germany's experience in memory policy towards complicated heritage.
In the seventh podcast episode an author of “Ukrainian Constructivism” Ievgeniia Gubkina and singer and musician Nata Zhyzhchenko (ONUKA) talk about -isms in 20th century architecture and share their own childhood experiences of interacting with austere, laconic constructivist buildings. Trying to understand what we are fascinated by when we look at this or that architecture, conversation unexpectedly turns to superpowers that could/would like to have the speakers, to the Soviet coal mining settlement on the island of Spitsbergen in Norway and how multidisciplinary contemporary art helps dealing with the past and memory.