School of Resistance: Practices from Euromaidan to Belarus / Art in Conflicted Areas

IIPM and NTGent in collaboration with the Münchner Kammerspiele presented School of Resistance: Practices from Euromaidan to Belarus / Art in conflicted areas livestreaming on the global, commons-based, peer-produced HowlRound TV network at howlround.tv on Friday 17 December 2021.

In search of strategies of resistance, Milo Rau, the IIPM (International Institute of Political Murder) and the NTGent founded a globally networked “School of Resistance” as a livestream debate series in May 2020. Now, as a symbolic institution of the future, it is landing at the Münchner Kammerspiele and, together with the artistic “Sisterhood Kyiv-Munich”, is questioning civil and artistic practices of resistance. Within the framework of the Sisterhood, the Münchner Kammerspiele aims to form a stable network with civil society actors and artists in Kyiv, Munich and beyond.

Friday 17 September

Practices from Euromaidan to Belarus

8 a.m. PST (Los Angeles, UTC-8) / 11 a.m. EST (New York, UTC -5) / 16:00 GMT (London, UTC +0) / 17:00 CET (Munich, UTC +1) / 18:00 EET (Kyiv, UTC +2).

How can art contribute to strategies of resistance? How can activists and artists work together as experts of change to build a repertoire (and archive) of strategies of resistance? Together with IIPM/Milo Rau, Münchner Kammerspiele invites activists and artists to look back on the protests of the past years in Ukraine and Belarus. What could civil protest achieve against authoritarian power structures? How do the experiences of the two countries differ? Here, the consolidation of the Lukashenka regime with Russian support and the expulsion of many activists and artists; there, the emergence of a democratic Ukraine turned towards Europe, which remains however in a permanent state of crisis due to war and occupation. How do civil society and artists look back on the Euromaidan protests in 2013/14 and the democracy movement in Belarus from summer 2020? What can be expected from the future? Which forms of solidarity are being expected?

In Munich, the “School of Resistance” brings together director and artistic director Stas Zhyrkov (Left Bank Theatre, Kyiv) and director Vlad Troitskyi, who, as founder of the transdisciplinary Gogolfest, has been organising festivals throughout Ukraine for years. In addition, the activist and local politician Polina Gordienko will look at the situation in Belarus. Born in Ulan-Ude, Russia, and raised in Minsk, the Munich-based activist has acted as the voice of the Belarusian democracy movement in Germany since the rigged presidential election in August 2020. In conversation with Kasia Wojcik, who will lead the discussion as curator of the “School of Resistance”, the panel will also look at the current humanitarian emergency on the Belarusian border. The situation of refugees in need of protection once again reveals that human rights are repeatedly in crisis at Europe’s external border. What does the current situation demand of civil society and the European Union?

Art in conflicted areas

9:30 a.m. PST (Los Angeles, UTC-8) / 12:30 a.m. EST (New York, UTC -5) / 17:30 GMT (London, UTC +0) / 18:30 CET (Munich, UTC +1) / 19:30 EET (Kyiv, UTC +2).

What can art do in areas of conflict? How can artistic practices be adapted to the conditions of a violent environment? The “School of Resistance” of the IIPM/Milo Rau invites, together with the Münchner Kammerspiele, artists, activists and academics from Ukraine to a joint exchange. What does cultural production in our distant neighbour Ukraine mean for a country that has been living in a state of war for several years? What does art mean in the conflict zones and what does art about war mean?

In a conversation with curator and dramaturge Martín Valdés-Stauber, Andrii Palatnyi, who is responsible for the international collaborations of the transdisciplinary Gogolfest and who has worked as a curator for the Ukrainian Capital of Culture 2021 Mariupol, looks at artistic and civil society efforts in the immediate vicinity of the combat zone. How can artistic projects with civil society, especially with young people, facilitate social cohesion and foster emancipation? Oksana Lemishka discusses the social significance of art, especially for conflict areas and countries at war. Drawing on many years of research, she reports findings on the different regions of Ukraine, including occupied territories not controlled by the Ukrainian government, and provides research evidence on the transformational potential of art. Finally, award-winning playwright, screenwriter and director Natalia Vorozhbyt reports about her research, experiences and filming in conflict zones. With her play “Погані дороги” (Bad Roads), written in 2017 for Royal Court in London, she succeeded in creating an impressive testimony in six chapters to the suffering in the war in eastern Ukraine. She filmed five images of her text in 2020 creating the movie “Bad Roads”. The Ukrainian Oscar committee recently picked the film for the 2022 nomination. After the discussion, Natalia Vorozhbyt will present the missing, sixth image in an in bilingual Ukrainian-German interplay with Kammerspiele actress Johanna Eiworth. What does it mean to understand art as testimony?

With this talk, the IIPM/Milo Rau is continuing a long tradition of artistic engagement with conflict zones. The talk is also part of the Kammerspiele’s efforts within the artistic Sisterhood to draw attention to the ongoing war situation in Ukraine, our distant neighbour.

The "School of Resistance" is supported by the Performing Arts Fund with funds from the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media within the framework of NEUSTART KULTUR.

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