The outcome of the first round of the Scattered Communities program

We have completed the first round of the Scattered Communities program, which we are implementing with the Asortymentna Kimnata to (re)establish connections within the Ukrainian art community in Ukraine and abroad.

In the process, the artistic duos worked on joint projects and/or interaction practices at different stages of development: from reflecting on their own (and society’s) experiences and searching for forms of expression to finalizing their finished projects. Among them:

Anna Zvyagintseva (Kyiv) and Mark Chegodaev (Vienna) completed Self-Portrait, a study of security spaces through the images of everyday objects, and the processes of their destruction and restoration. As of the completion of the first round in January 2025, the artwork is in its final stages and is being prepared for exhibition.
Mykola Lebid (Berlin) and Yuriy Golik (Graz) run participatory sessions on improvisational visual/auditory practices and interviews for the Emigrant Folklore project. As of the end of the first round in January 2025, two presentations are being prepared: On 19 February in Graz and on 25 February in Vienna.
The Mirror Reflects with a Delay: the project by Alina Kleitman (Turin) and Nikita Kadan (Kyiv) is ongoing and, as of the end of the first round in January 2025, is at the work-in-progress stage. The part of the project that is based on photographic practices and implemented by Alina Kleitman is in progress. The artistic dialogue in this work focuses on the patterns of imperialist behavior and their obsessive reproduction in classical museum exhibitions.
In March 2025, a guide-zine and video instructions for planting Situational Flowerbeds: practices of commemoration and coexistence in loss through gardening will be released. They are offered by Dasha Chechushkova, Anya Nikitiuk, and Ksenia Shcherbakova as part of the project of the same name. During the project, the artists changed their locations.
Ksenia Pohrebennyk (Ivano-Frankivsk), Anna Ivchenko (Berlin), and Yevhenia Milchenko (Lisbon) are working on the project Mounds, Graves, and Us: about memory spaces and the practice of (not) returning to the places of childhood memories. They have already made a research trip to the mound in the village of Apollonivka, and are processing this experience and forming a joint artistic statement in the form of a three-channel video.
Penelope’s Dreams by Tetya Tsybulnyk (USA) and Polina Choni (Kyiv) is being prepared for the exhibition: the project is based on the exchange of dreams between two artists living on different continents.
The art book/collection of essays Ukrainian Society in the State of Fortification is being prepared for publication by military art researcher Dmytro Zaiets (Kharkiv) and civilian artist Maria Vasylenko.

Artistic research and work-in-progresses created in tandems and trios are an important part of the program, but not its ultimate goal. Scattered Communities was conceived as a space for speaking the unspoken, the common, and the disparate, for dialogues and (moderate) discussions within and outside the field of artistic practice. This space took place in a series of closed meetings of the program participants. While we are aware of the interest in the ‘results’ of these meetings, they were not planned as meetings with an agenda and a set of common decisions, but as a space for (relatively) safe and open conversation. Therefore, we cannot share either the ‘outcomes’ or the process, but rather quote the feedback of several participants:

“For me, the most important thing that happened in the program was an attempt to talk. Some things, questions, uncertainties, and disputes change their qualities if they are voiced. If you do not maintain connections, they disintegrate by themselves due to distance and time, so an attempt to create conditions for dialogue is very valuable.”
“There is no common trauma, no language, no solidarity. To some extent, a scattered and traumatized (in different ways) social landscape has emerged. And this landscape is not divided only into “here” and “there”.”
“In general, I think that something very cool and important happened, but so far I can only describe it as mutual exchange.”
“There was a dialogue, but no related action.”
“There was no acceptance of all the participants of the group and their views on certain issues.”
“There is an impression that something did not happen, yes.”
“As if no one nailed anyone (yay).”

One of the curators of the program, Yaroslav Futimsky, said: “The Scattered Communities is a space full of different possibilities, some of which have happened, some of which are still unfolding and stretching, some of which have already been forgotten or postponed. A wide geography full of differences and emotionality, recognition but also rejection, repetition and forgetting, untimely or reactionary. I repeat after Alona Karavai: this is a window of opportunity that still exists, in difficult times, in wide geography, between poisoned landscapes and mutilated landscapes, next to the (in)possibilities of language and the weaknesses of art. I thank the participants for their attentiveness and mutual support, for their emotionality and (un)comfort, for what was outlined, and for the words (out of) sight, for what was done and what will remain ‘in process’.

Communication in the dispersed community was established through the mobility program. With the full understanding that not everyone can move freely in different geographies, we were still able to support several trips:

Max Svitlo (Berlin) to Yuri Golik (Graz). As part of this trip, Max’s artist talk took place in Graz.
Ksenia Shcherbakova (Vienna-Kyiv) to Pavlo Kerestey (Reading). As part of this trip, a joint event was held at the Open Hand Open Space gallery in Reading (England). The recording of the event can be found here.
Anastasia Shergina (Lviv) traveled to Yuri Golik (Graz).
Oleksii Konopelko (Kyiv) together with Ksenia Pohrebennyk (Ivano-Frankivsk) went to Khata-Maysternya.

There were also several online artist talks and events:

A conversation between Andriy Boyarov and Mykola Ridnyi, focusing on (re)thinking history through artistic practices. You can listen to the recording here.
‘Field-phony’ is a concert conversation by Mykola Lebed and Oleksiy Podat, united by the theme of field recordings in music and sound. Watch and listen here.

In February 2025, these conversations will continue — in particular, a conversation between Yaroslav Futimsky and Pavlo Kerestey is scheduled for 25 February.

We analyze what has or has not been done, do not force processes, and do not overestimate expectations. We intend to expand the space of (mutual/opposite) action formed within the program. We are (formally) completing the first circle, but in reality, we continue to interact both in the general group and in smaller constellations, but without a plan. The call for the second round of the program will be announced in February.

The “Scattered Communities” program is implemented by Asortymentna Kimnata and Insha Osvita with the support of the Robert Bosch Stiftung and Goethe-Institut Ukraine.