Visual Culture Research Centre Kiev
A presentation by Vasyl Cherepanyn and members of the Kyiv Visual Culture Research Center, under the aegis of the CHASE doctoral training initiative “The Absent Audience”.
Monday April 11th, 11.00 am to 1.00pm GMT and will be online. Organised by the Advanced Practices program, Goldsmiths.
At this moment when Ukraine has been facing Russian aggression, its cities are being bombed and populations are seeking refuge both in the country and abroad – we wanted to reach out and speak with the members of Kyiv based Visual Culture Research Centre. The VCRC has been a leading force for initiating and promoting contemporary visual culture and they have been the convenors of the Kyiv Biennial for some 5 editions. They are also at the heart of the ‘East European Biennial Alliance’ and many collaborations with neighbouring countries that have in recent weeks taken on another and very urgent dimension.
The members of the VCRC have not left Ukraine and have dispersed in the Western part of the country to continue their work remotely. Given our mutual commitment to Visual Culture as a project, this seems a good moment to hear about their work, express solidarity and see what we may be able to do in support.
Vasyl Cherepanyn (born 1980) is head of the Visual Culture Research Center (VCRC), an institution founded in Kyiv in 2008 as a platform for collaboration among academic, artistic, and activist communities. He holds a PhD in philosophy (aesthetics) and has lectured at the National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy, European University Viadrina in Frankfurt (Oder), University of Helsinki, Free University of Berlin, Merz Akademie in Stuttgart, University of Vienna, Institute for Advanced Studies of the Political Critique in Warsaw, and University of Greifswald. He was a visiting fellow at the Institute for Human Sciences in Vienna in 2016. He coedited Guidebook of the Kyiv International (Medusa Books, 2018) and ’68 NOW (Archive Books, 2019), and curated The European International (Rijksakademie van beeldende kunsten, Amsterdam, 2018) and Hybrid Peace (Stroom, The Hague, 2019). VCRC is the organizer of the Kyiv Biennial (The School of Kyiv, 2015; The Kyiv International, 2017; The Kyiv International—’68 NOW, 2018; Black Cloud, 2019; Allied, (2021) and a founding member of the East Europe Biennial Alliance. VCRC received the European Cultural Foundation Princess Margriet Award for Culture in 2015 and the Igor Zabel Award Grant for Culture and Theory in 2018.