May 4th, 2 pm - 4 pm 

Trauma: meeting with artist Lia Dostlieva (hybrid)

We’re meeting in person in room 105, and Lia Dostlieva will join online. 

Lia Dostlieva (born in Donetsk, Ukraine) is a Ukrainian artist, cultural anthropologist, and essayist whose work explores themes of memory, trauma, and social vulnerability. She works across multiple media—including photography, installations, video, and textile sculpture—and focuses on issues such as collective trauma, postmemory, decolonial narratives, and the visibility of marginalised groups. Lia Dostlieva has exhibited internationally at major institutions and participated in the Ukrainian Pavilion at the 60th Venice Biennale. Her practice often combines artistic production with research and writing, reflecting her academic background in cultural anthropology. 

May 11th, 2 pm - 4 pm 

Chornobyl: meeting with Dr Jonathon Turnbull (hybrid)

We’re meeting in person in room 105, and Jonathon Turnbull will join online. 

Jonathon Turnbull is a more-than-human geographer from Newcastle upon Tyne with a broad interest in the geographies of nature. His research examines how environmental knowledges are produced and contested across diverse geographical contexts from the Chornobyl Exclusion Zone in Ukraine to the rumen of livestock cattle in Europe and India. We will focus on Jonathon’s upcoming book, in which he explores the ‘return of nature’ to the Chornobyl Exclusion Zone in Ukraine, the site of the world's worst nuclear catastrophe of 1986. This work is currently being prepared for publication as a monograph, provisionally titled Radioactive Resurgence, which explores how the Zone has come to be understood simultaneously as a post-apocalyptic wasteland and a thriving nuclear nature reserve, and how more-than-human life endures after nuclear catastrophe.

June 1st, 2 pm - 4 pm 

Post-industrial urban ecologies: meeting with artist Karolina Uskakovych and screening of her latest movie, White Cliffs of Vinnytsia (2026).

 

We’re meeting in person in room 105, and Karolina Uskakovych will join online. 

The territory of the Vinnytsya Chemical Plant stretches along the railroad tracks, not far from the central city railway station. Founded in 1920, Khimprom was one of Ukraine's largest chemical enterprises and went bankrupt in the late nineties, leaving behind a toxic legacy – a phosphogypsum stack known locally as the "white mountains." In her project, Karolina Uskakovych returns to her hometown to explore the landfill ecosystem through archival work, visual research, collaboration with experts, and the conceptualisation of post-industrial urban ecologies. What is the ecosystem that forms on the phosphogypsum stack? What is its cultural and ecological significance? Do the "white cliffs" pose a threat of environmental pollution, or have they become a haven for wildlife within the industrial zone? Can these roles coexist? We will discuss the decolonial rethinking of the urban landscape and the creation of artistic visions for post-industrial ecosystems.

June 8th, 2 pm - 4 pm 

The Post-Soviet: meeting with artist Lada Nakonechna  (hybrid)

In person, room 105.

Lada Nakonechna is a contemporary Ukrainian artist whose work spans drawing, installation, performance, and video. Her work critically examines systems of power, visibility, and representation, often focusing on how political and social structures shape everyday life. Primarily, she focuses on cultural infrastructures that enable violence. She engages with documents and found footage, challenging modes of visibility by intervening in culturally stabilised images. In her works with historical Socialist Realist paintings, Nakonechna questions the future to which the landscape, in its often politicised forms, has long laid claim. A significant strand of her practice addresses displaced bodies and the loss of orientation, which is particularly relevant in the context of Russia's war against Ukraine. Her work frequently reflects absence, erasure, loneliness, and the fragility of personal and collective memory. She is a member of the R.E.P. group and a co-founder of the Method Fund.

June 15th, 2 pm - 4 pm 

Home: meeting with Yuriy Biley from Open Group.

In person, room 105.

Open Group is a Ukrainian contemporary art collective founded in 2012 in Lviv by six artists: Yuriy Biley, Pavlo Kovach, Anton Varga, Stanislav Turina, Roman Khimei, and Andriy Rachynskyi (As of August 2023, Open Group consists of three people: Yuriy Biley, Anton Varga, and Pavlo Kovach Jr.). The group works collaboratively across installation, performance, video, and participatory practices. Their work often explores collective authorship, communication, and the construction of social space, frequently involving audiences directly in the creation or activation of artworks. Open Group is particularly known for its interest in everyday interactions, institutional critique, and the boundaries between artist and viewer. In recent years, their practice has increasingly addressed the impact of war, displacement, and shifting identities in Ukraine, reflecting on how communities are formed and reshaped under conditions of crisis. Their projects often engage with testimony, shared experience, and the role of language and storytelling. Open Group has represented Ukraine at major international platforms, including the Venice Biennale, where their work has drawn attention for its subtle yet powerful engagement with contemporary social and political realities.

June 22nd, 2 pm - 4 pm 

Memory: meeting with Mykola Ridnyi.

 

In person, room 105.

Mykola Rydnyi (born in Kharkiv, Ukraine) is a Ukrainian artist, filmmaker, and curator whose work explores the intersections of memory, history, and political reality. Working across video, installation, sculpture, and photography, he examines how personal and collective memories are shaped by ideology, media, and urban space. A central focus of Rydnyi’s practice is the construction and erosion of memory in post-Soviet contexts, particularly in eastern Ukraine. He often engages with archives, testimonies, and fragmented narratives to reveal how histories are mediated, forgotten, or manipulated. His works address themes such as trauma, propaganda, and the legacy of Soviet and post-Soviet transformations, as well as the ongoing impact of war on collective consciousness. Rydnyi is a co-founder of the SOSka group and has been closely involved with independent art initiatives in Kharkiv, contributing to critical cultural discourse in Ukraine. His films and installations have been shown internationally, including at major exhibitions such as the Venice Biennale, where his work has been recognised for its nuanced engagement with memory, image-making, and political subjectivity.

 

The meetings are part of the seminar series Displaced Perspectives: Ukrainian Art and Cultural Resilience in Times of War.