“We Will Discuss the Future and Dream Together”: Cultural and Artistic Life and the Museumification of Urban Space in Wartime Kharkiv

Abstract

The article describes the experience of Kharkiv artists (both professional and amateur) who continued to live and create in the front-line metropolis after February 24, 2022. Attention is also given to several events that physically took place entirely or in part outside Kharkiv, but were aimed at the presentation of the city, with their organizers and target audience directly connected with it. The article shows that the making of fine art went on in Kharkiv during this time, musical works were performed, and theatrical productions were premiered. Both individual artists and collectives launched creative initiatives, and art festivals were held. Artistic practices influenced the life of the metropolis and became one of the forms of recording the memory of war. The author points out that creative work under conditions of persisting military danger had a psychotherapeutic effect on the participants, helping them to get through traumatic situations and supporting morale. Artists reflected in their work events they witnessed firsthand, and also occasionally used material objects generated by the war (such as shell fragments) to create new artistic artifacts — examples of “trench art.” Importantly, creative acts took place in iconic and recognizable city locations — for instance, at subway stations or near damaged historical and architectural landmarks. The article investigates the role of cultural and artistic practices in the process of the museumification of the urban space of Kharkiv during the full-scale Russian aggression. It is shown that already in the first months of the war, artists began to reflect on the fact that their creative practices will be included in future museum exhibits, as well as contribute to the emergence of new “sites of memory” in the urban space of Kharkiv.