Scattered Communities

Funding: Robert Bosch Stiftung, Goethe-Institut in Ukraine
Partners: Asortymentna Kimnata, Visual Culture Research Center
Duration: September 2024–January 2025
Budget: 40,300 euros
Coordinator: Alona Karavai

“Scattered Communities” is a program for Ukrainian artists who stayed in Ukraine and who left because of the war. It involves processing these different experiences in collaborative artworks aimed at understanding community ties, the theme of migration — at different levels and forms — and supporting artistic dialogue within the Ukrainian artistic community. 

After the start of the full-scale invasion, some artists were forced to leave their homes, some stayed in Ukraine, and some joined the army. We do not have precise figures or statistics that would fully capture the experiences of these groups. Just as we do not have precise tools to measure tensions, guilt, disagreements or broken ties. What we can do is support and build new dialogues that bring out the different voices in the artistic community.   

The first iteration of the program will run until January 2025 and will include:

— October: online meetings, search for a tandem for collaborative artwork, and a funding application. Artworks can be funded with a budget of up to €4,000. There will also be an opportunity to apply for mobility to travel to each other (if possible); mobilities are funded according to a budget of up to €1,000 per mobility.

— November and December 2025: Continued online meetings, paired online artist talks, and public online discussions. Produced funded artworks and implemented mobilities.

— January 2025: online presentation of artworks or work-in-progress.

— In the future, the program’s partners — particularly the Kyiv Biennial — will consider including artworks created within the framework of the ‘scattered communities’ in their exhibition programs. 

All proprietary copyrights to the works created within the Scattered Communities program remain with their authors — we expect only a short disclaimer.  

The “Scattered Communities” program is implemented by Asortymentna Kimnata and Insha Osvita with the support of the Robert Bosch Stiftung and Goethe-Institut Ukraine. Warm thanks to the Kyiv Biennale/Visual Culture Research Center, the Ukrainian Institute in Germany, Office Ukraine in Austria, and the teams of Muzeum Sztuki Nowoczesnej w Warszawie, zusa, commit and MitOst e.V. for their support in developing the program, information and friendly assistance.