The Ukrainian-Danish team, inspired by the phenomenon of constructivist architecture, presents the multimedia project "Ukrainian Constructivism" created at the intersection of contemporary visual art, ballet, electro-folk music, and historical drama. Ukrainian musicians Nata Zhyzhchenko (Onuka) and Yevhen Filatov (the Maneken), Ukrainian-Danish artist and architect Sergei Sviatchenko, Danish choreographer Sebastian Kloborg and Ukrainian architect and researcher of modernism Ievgeniia Gubkina are the authors of a significant digital performance. The language of contemporary art and an experimental festival format will help reveal to the world the complex and extraordinary phenomenon of Ukrainian interwar modernism. The authors of the script, according to which the artists created elements of the multimedia project "Ukrainian Constructivism", are Ievgeniia Gubkina and a historian Yaroslav Perekhodko. We strive to make our project a powerful tool of cultural diplomacy, contributing to raising public attention to problems of Ukrainian modernist heritage, the heritage that is a part of the riches of modernist monuments in Europe and the world.

What is our mission?

To understand, reveal and protect the architectural heritage of Ukrainian constructivism. To make the 20th century visible. Ukrainian constructivism deserves to be included into the UNESCO World Heritage List!

Nata Zhyzhchenko

Ukrainian musician, frontwoman of the ONUKA band. In 2002, Nata became a solo singer with the Tomato Jaws band, founded by her elder brother Oleksandr Zhyzhchenko. In 2008, she began working over the Kooqla project. In 2013, Nata and Yevhen Filatov founded the electro-folk band called ONUKA. Music by ONUKA has featured a mix of electronics, topical pop music and Ukrainian ethnic sound. Since its founding, the band's discography has involved three studio albums “Onuka” (2014), “MOZAЇКА” (2018), “KOLIR” (2021) and a number of other releases. In 2016, ONUKA and the National Orchestra of Academic Folk Instruments delivered a music program that attracted overcrowded concert halls in the largest cities of Ukraine. In 2017, ONUKA became a special guest of Eurovision, and afterwards her song Vidlik topped the iTunes electronic charts in Britain, Australia, France, Germany and other countries. To support the “MOZAЇКА” album, the team arranged a music tour over Ukraine, Europe, China, the USA and Canada. In 2021, for the first time in eight years of ONUKA's existence, the duo – “UYAVY” song was recorded together with DakhaBrakha group for the “KOLIR” album.

Yevhen Filatov

Ukrainian musician, composer and sound producer. In 2008, he founded The Maneken band, which released four albums and dozens of singles. In 2013 he became a co-founder of the ONUKA project. In addition to creating music for this band, he acts as a music video director. Yevhen has been awarded several times as the best sound producer in Ukraine. In his career he worked for many music stars, including Ivan Dorn, Sunsay, Jamala, and Tina Karol. In the final of the national selection for Eurovision-2016 three songs arranged by Filatov for Sunsay, Jamala and Brunettes Shoot Blondes were presented at the same time. Moreover, the song "1944" handed a victory to Jamala at the Eurovision in Stockholm. In 2016, Yevhen Filatov and Nata Zhyzhchenko launched VIDLIK Records. Recently, Yevhen has been working on music for movies; he has composed soundtracks for the films “Pulse”, “Best Weekend”, “The Devoted One” and the “Hide and Seek” series.

Sebastian Kloborg

Danish dancer and choreographer. Graduated from the Royal Danish Ballet School in 2003 to join the Royal Danish Ballet the same year. He danced with the company until 2016 but also danced with Gauthier Dance, Stuttgart from 2012-2014. Through his dancing career he has worked with some of the most innovative choreographers like Marcos Morau, William Forsythe, Sol Léon & Paul Lightfoot, Julian Nicosia and David Dawson. From 2016 he has been working as a freelance dancer and choreographer. He has created choreographic works for companies like the Royal Danish Ballet, English National Ballet, Kammerballetten, Beijing Dance Theatre and Danish Dance Theatre where he collaborated with Sergei Sviatchenko on ‘The Nightingale’ in 2020. He was awarded the National Performing Arts Award for Best Dance Production in 2020 for his piece ‘Absolute Pitch-Black’ for Kammerballetten. In 2020 he started a collaboration with cinematographer Tom McKenzie and together they have worked on films like ‘Closer’, ‘Solosolo’ and ‘DIORAMA’ which won Best Short Dance Film at San Francisco Dance Film Festival in 2021. Sebastian works in many interdisciplinary fields of the performing arts with actors, musicians and stage directors.

Sergei Sviatchenko

Danish-Ukrainian architect, artist, graduated from Kharkov National University of Construction and Architecture in 1975, followed by a PhD “Means of Visual Information in Architecture” from Kyiv National University of Construction and Architecture in 1986. He is a photographer, painter, filmmaker, member of the Danish visual artists and graphics (BKF), winner of the Yellow Pencil Award 2007, London. Furthermore, today, he is one of the world’s most influential collage artists for his ground-breaking art work the series “LESS” (2004). From 1990, he has lived and worked in Denmark. A provocateur in the world of contemporary art, Sviatchenko’s collages and paintings have been exhibited in Denmark, Germany, Italy, France, United Kingdom, Canada, and the USA. In Ukraine, his name is strongly associated with the first contemporary Ukrainian art exhibitions of the 1980s and the Soviart Contemporary Art Centre, where he was one of the founders – representative of the New Ukrainian Wave. Today he is the founder and a creative director of Less Festival for Contemporary Collage Art in Viborg, Denmark.

Ievgeniia Gubkina

Architect, historian of architecture, curator of architecture and art projects, educational activities. She is a co-founder of the NGO Urban Forms Center and the avant-garde women's movement “Modernistki”. Since 2012 she has been a consultant at the Ukrainian Constructivism Weeks in Zaporizhia. Ievgeniia is the author of several publications, including articles in the Kyiv Architectural Guide (DOM Publishers), “Utopia & Collapse: Rethinking Metsamor” (Park Books AG), “ERA21”, “The Calvert Journal”, “Springerin”, “RGOW”, “Obieg”. In 2015 her “Slavutych Architectural Guide” was published as a separate edition by DOM Publishers in Germany. She is the author of the study and co-author of the book, “Soviet Modernism.Brutalism. Post-Modernism. Buildings and Structures in Ukraine 1955-1991” which was published in 2019 by Osnovy and DOM Publishers. In 2020 she became a co-curator of the multimedia online project “Encyclopedia of Ukrainian Architecture”.

Yaroslav Perekhodko

Historian, Ph.D student of Ivan Franko Lviv National University. In 2018 he graduated from Taras Shevchenko Kyiv National University with a degree in History and Archeology. In 2020 he became a co-curator of the multimedia online project “Encyclopedia of Ukrainian Architecture”. Screenwriter and manager of the TA Youtube channel. Author and expert of the special project “History of Ukraine in Stories” by the EdEra online education studio and “Osvitoria”. Author of the “History of Ukraine. Grade 11” and “World History. Grade 11” courses for the “All-Ukrainian school online” project under the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine. Coordinator of non-formal historical education program “Living History Studies” (2018–2019), “Festival of Living Stories” (2019). He participated in the “Teach for Ukraine” program (2017–2018). Political consultant for B&P Consulting (2019–2021). He researches the history of Byzantium, the modern history of Ukraine, the history and historical memory as well as public history.

Olga Zarko

Graphic and motion designer, multimedia artist, photographer, traveler. Works with visual communication of non-governmental organizations, and develops an identity for cultural projects in Ukraine, Germany, and for many international initiatives. She is also doing reportage shooting on festivals, meetings, and events. In her free time, she uses photography as a tool for her own research. Favorite topics: architecture, identity, ecology, and sustainable development.

Olena Saponova

Photographer and author of photo art projects #ArtistFromWithinWorkshop, #FLOWERCLOUD, #UnexpectedMFA, #TheBigStrategy, #aPlaceThatMatters_. Olena collaborates with cultural and artistic organizations, non-governmental organizations, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine and contemporary artists. She is interested in street art and urban design, architecture, artists and their workshops, nature and form.

Team

Dmytro Sysoiev

Graduate of the Faculty of Economics of the Kharkiv National Academy of Municipal Economy (specialty - accounting and auditing). Financial consultant for small businesses since 2006. He used to teach “Management Accounting” and “Financial Activities of Enterprises” at Kharkiv Beketov National University of Municipal Economy (2010-2015). He is a cultural events manager, founder of the creative associations "Riot Gigs" and "Fresh Wave" (2009-2011). Since 2014 he has been working as a project coordinator and financial manager at the NGO Urban Forms Center. Coordinated the Interdisciplinary Summer School “The Idea of the City: Reality Check”, educational project “Urban studios. School module “Urbanistics”, international project “Bauhaus – Zaporizhzhia. Modernism in Germany and Ukraine”. Since 2017 he has been the coordinator of the Czech Center in Kharkiv.

Anastasia Bozhenko

Senior Lecturer at Department of Ukrainian Studies, Faculty of Philosophy in V. N. Karazin Kharkiv National University, project coordinator of the NGO Urban Forms Center. Anastasia graduated from the historical faculty of Karazin University, in 2019 she defended her thesis on “Formation of urban lifestyle in the second half of the nineteenth – early twentieth century. (based on the materials of Kharkiv)”. She’s not only taking part in research and educational activities, but she’s also participating in cultural projects related to the architectural heritage of interwar modernism and industrial heritage (Bauhaus – Zaporizhzhia: Zaporizhzhia modernism and Bauhaus school: universality of phenomena. Problems of preserving modernist heritage; Industrial Kharkiv), contemporary art (she was a mediator at the exhibition “The Way of Aeneas” and “Biennial of Young Art”). Research interests: historical urban planning, social history, history of Ukraine.

Valeria Levytska

Producer of ONUKA, The Maneken, CEO of Vidlik Records.

Tetiana Danshyna

Project manager with eight years of experience in software development - mobile and web applications. Professional interests lie in the plane of optimizing the user experience, working with requirements and interfaces, organizing the work of teams in an agile environment. She was born in 1987 in the city of Kharkiv, and lives there to this day. She’s a patriot, who takes an active part in the cultural, social and sports life of Kharkiv.

Vitaliy Ivanov

Web and mobile application developer, software development consultant. Vitaliy has been worked in project development for over 15 years serving customers from Europe, the USA, Canada and other countries. Among his clients there are successful startups and high profile companies well-known at the market which demand the highest quality for their users in terms of user experience. He lives in Kharkiv, takes an active part in public life of the city.

Tom McKenzie

Tom McKenzie is a film director and photographer based in Copenhagen, Denmark. He has specialised much of his film work around expression and storytelling through choreography and music, often engaging physically with the performing artist to convey movement through space. Graduating from The Danish School of Art Photography Fatamorgana in 2011 and The Danish School of Media and Journalism in 2015, Tom draws upon both commercial and artistic influences in his work.

Pavlo Dorohoi

Photographer, documentary filmmaker, researcher of Soviet photography of the second half of the 20th century. He was born in 1985 in Kharkiv. He studied at the DOKDOKDOK school of modern photography, works with archival and vernacular photography. His current projects concern the relationship between personal and collective memory. He is interested in the Soviet architectural heritage and its future during decommunization.

Yevhen Chervonyi

Co-founder of the Metamuseum creative group, cultural project manager, video performer. He graduated from Lviv Ivan Franko National University (degree in biology). Fulbright Faculty Development Scholar, in 2012–2013 he studied at George Washington University (Washington, USA) at the Master's program in Museum Studies. In 2013–2016 he worked as Deputy Director for Development of the Museum of Folk Architecture and Way of Life in Lviv. In 2016–2017, he was the coordinator of exhibition projects at the Center for Urban History of Central and Eastern Europe. In 2018–2019, he worked as SMM and content manager of the Lviv Organ Hall. He participated in many projects, including “Revitalization of the Museum of Folk Architecture and Life in Lviv and its collection” (2013–2014), “WEsdom: West-East bridge of Knowledge” (2014–2015), “Franco live” at the Franco House (2018), the exhibition “Ice Age in the State Museum of Natural History of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine” (2019).

Leonid Yezhurov

Film director, camera operator, cultural activist. He was born in 1987 in Kherson. Mostly works in his hometown. He began his professional career as a journalist and photojournalist for the newspaper “Vhoru”. In 2014 he founded a Ukrainian cinema club. In 2016–2017, together with friends, he founded the public and cultural center Kherson Art Hub Illusion and led an advocacy campaign to protect the city’s oldest cinema. In 2018, he studied at the Laboratory of Film Production for Young Artists Indie Lab. He worked as a freelance camera operator for Channel 5 and the BBC. The debut documentary “Illusions at the Bottom” was presented at the International Documentary Film Festival on Human Rights “Docudays UA” (2019), as well as in the competition program of the Danish “Copenhagen Underground” Film Festival and other festivals in Ukraine and Georgia. In 2019, he started a photo series #kherlandia, where it shows the real and imaginary Kherson region. Chairman of the Board of NGO Director.org.

Serhiy Evteev

He graduated from Donetsk National University in 2014 with a master's degree in history. He studied ethnopolitical conflicts in Western Europe. In 2012–2014 he worked in projects that supported the German ethnic minority in Ukraine. Since 2015 he has been working in the field of non-formal education. He is a trainer-facilitator at the Board named after Theodor Gois (Berlin, Germany). Member of the NGO "Other Education" and Chairman of the Coordinating Council of the NGO "Space 500" (public restaurant "Urban Space 500" in Kyiv). In 2019–2021, he was the financial manager of the “Kyiv Dialogue” project at the International Foundation "Vidrodzhennia".

Karina Fursa

Deputy Chairman of the Board of the NGO Insha Osvita, trainer and facilitator of the international coaching network “Theodor Heuss Kolleg”. Co-coordinator of social projects of the Mamay-Hora archeological expedition. She works as a manager and coordinator of training programs and projects. She studies the management of non-profit organizations at the Ukrainian Catholic University and researches communities.

Giuliano Vivaldi

Translator, blogger and writer on film, alternative currents of thought in Soviet philosophy and cultural issues. He has translated a large range of essays and scholarly texts for various journals and reviews and has translated works by the Soviet philosopher Evald Ilyenkov and the contemporary leftist Russian political thinker Ilya Budraitskis. He has also translated a large number of film scripts and films subtitles as well as plays, art catalogues and writings by artists and his translations have appeared in a wide variety of journals and volumes. His own writings on film, history and philosophy have appeared in Senses of Cinema, Bright Light Film Journal, The Calvert Journal, Desist Film, East European Film Bulletin, Tribune, Jacobin, Stasis, Historical Materialism Journal, The Perspectives Blog. Occasional articles of his have appeared in Russian (Novoe Literaturnoe Obozrenie, OpenLeft.Ru) and in Italian (Nazione Indiana, Matrioska). He is the author of a number of blogs on Soviet and Post-Soviet Film and on general cultural and political issues. He has curated film retrospectives and events on the Italian filmmaker Pier Paolo Pasolini.

Christian Kortegaard Madsen

Danish curator and art consultant based in Aarhus, Denmark. While being consulting various international art projects, Christian holds a position as curator at the internationally renowned Museum Jorn. Further he is a board member at The Aarhus Academy of Fine Arts. Having experience working with a wide spectrum of both historical and contemporary art, Christian currently works with experimental and critical art. He has been doing research in semiotics and psychoanalysis uncovering how images communicate. Christian Kortegaard Madsen has curated several exhibitions in Denmark and abroad featuring artists such as Banksy, Ai Weiwei and has published a number of books and articles.

Kurt Nielsen

Photographer for visual artists, galleries and museums. In the last 30 years focus has been on Sergei Sviatchenko art – painting, collage and art-projects.

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