maidan in progress - майдан в прогресі
'The Sound of Contradictions'
'The Sound of Contradictions' is a duology of audio-visual works. These musical video essays arose out of the feeling of uncertainty and ambiguity towards terms like "revolution", "anthem", "public" and "nation". Collected o-sounds of interviews, street situations in Kyiv and archive footage will be extended with the use of music. The element of music in documentaries is often handled with controversion since it has the power to distort feelings and to move the viewer further away from reality.
These works were finalized during the Viadrinicum Summer School "(Dis)-Assembling the (Post)-Digital Social" and presented at the Brandenburg Museum of Modern Art in Frankfurt (Oder) / Słubice on 28th of August 2021. All results were also presented digitaly here.
'What is Revolution?'
A conversation with the composer Sparinsky
In the recorded interview with the Kyiv based composer Alexander Sparinsky in 2015, we have two parts - the official and the inofficial. While the official interview has been used in the documentary of "maidan in progress", this one will be a musical video essay about the composer behind the scenes. He discusses important questions like "What is revolution?" and "the role of an artist" within a coffee break. While standing in front of the American flag next to his piano, he speaks about the spread of Ukrainian arts and its visibility abroad.
'The Anthem'
A street scene on the Maidan
Let´s review all the nationalist symbols like flags and colors and the Ukrainian anthem which is usually sung in a group full of pride - “Power to the people!”. Nonetheless, looking at the anthem in the frame of war between Russia and Ukraine or in the frame of history, the anthem provoques a feeling of disgust. Symbols are replaceable, people not.
Installation/Інсталяція
2015 - 2017 - 2019
[Kunstraum 53, Hildesheim, 19.12.2019]
Next level of "maidan in progress - майдан в прогресі" can be seen next Thursday at KUNSTRAUM 53. This time we chose to combine material from three years - 2015 - 2017 - 2019 - in an installation. Besides the two main protagonists Boris Yeghiazaryan and Tamara Bernatska, you will be able to get insight in multiple side stories which show the plurality of positions and opinions. We invite you to actively follow the project on social media.
Наступний етап "maidan in progress - майдан в прогресі" ви зможете побачити в четвер, 19ого грудня, в Кунстраум 53. Цього разу ми презентуюємо інсталяцію, яка комбінує матеріал з трьох років - 2015 - 2017 - 2019. Біля двох головних протагоністів/ок Тамари Бернадської і Бориса Єгіазаріана, існують бокові історії, які показують різноманіття думок і позицій. Запрошуємо активно спостерігати за проектом у соц-мережах.
Transformations vs. Stagnations/
Трансформації Стагнації
Ukraine 5 years after the revolution/
Україна 5 років після революції
June ´19/Червень ´19
Dear you, here few analogue impressions of our last filming in Kyiv, Ukraine. What we experienced in Kyiv, needs many words to describe. First of all, we met all our protagonists again, Tamara Bernatska, Boris Yeghiazaryan, Volodymyr Paniotto, Zвуки Zемли, took the third interview with them and followed through their day. Many thanks to them and to the Ukraine Calling. Ukraine-Kompetenz im Dialog programm who support us. The square is on the same place, but again - not free of protest speeches about freeing politically imprisoned film makers, journalists, mariners from Kerch. The five filming days were very exhausting and tiring because of emotionally charged encounters. Our stay ended with the screening of our previous film version. There (and in general), we experienced a crash of opinions concerning the presidential elections and the direction for Ukraine. The project steps forward slowly but surely. We start working on the next version which includes material from now three years (2015-17-19) The next version of the doc project will be shown in Budapest on 2-6th of October at the MitOst-Festival.
Your Nele and Masha.
Дорогі всі, ось вам декілька аналогових фото-вражень після нашої останньої поїздки в Київ. Для описання того, що ми пережили в Києві потрібно багато слів. Перш за все, ми знову мали можливість зустрітися зі всіма нашими протагоніст(к)ами, записали вже третє інтерв´ю з ними і слідували за їхніми днівними рутинами. Дякуємо всім, особливо програмі Ukraine Calling. Ukraine-Kompetenz im Dialog за підтримку. Площа Незалежності залишилася на тому ж місці - але не вільна від слоганів протесту про визволення заарештованих по політичній мотивації, тобто режисерів/ок, журналістів/ок, моряків з Керча і.т.д. Ці дні були потужними і виснажливими ізза емоційно заряжених ситуацій. На останній вечір, ми запрошували на показ нашої попередньої версії. Після показу (ну і взагалі), ми були свідками того, як думки наших протагоністів/ок драматично розійшлися ізза виборів президента у квітні і про майбутній напрямок для укр. суспільства. Наш док-проект продвигається вперед повільно, але впевнено. Починаємо працювати над третьою версією фільму, в яку входитиме матеріал з трьох років (2015-17-19). Наступну версію документалки зможете побачити в Будапешті 2-6ого жовтня на фестивалі МітОст.
Ваші Нелє і Маша.
February '19
[PASSWORD: progressinmotion]
Finally Nele and me came together to finish the editing of our next movie. Material from 2015 and 2017 is combined. We decided to show you a split screen. More infos about the work will follow soon.
Thanx to D.A.I. Heidelberg for our first wonderfull screening and talk with the journalist Steffen Dobbert and our guests coming from Ukraine, Russia, Germany on 1st of March. We really enjoyed being there and remembering the tough situation in Ukraine. With love. m.
Hedgehogs of Maidan
(1st edition) -
a documentary about consequences and influences of the
Euromaidan-Revolution
in Ukraine:
Since the war in Ukraine the focus shifted from Kiev to Donezk and Luhansk. Nonetheless, Kiev´s Square of Independence remains as the place of historiography. Depending on the narrative, it is a gathering place of people on their way to freedom, democracy, of nationalists, extremists, pro-Europeans, of oppositionists . Independently to this we stayed at this square of political and social transformations to find out what the Euromaidan had left.
In this documentary we take a close look to the scars on the square and its people, but instead of focussing on the crowd as protagonist, we listen to personal stories of an ex TV producer Tamara Bernatska, of a war reporter Natasha Nagorna, an Armenian-Ukrainian artist Boris Yeghiazaryan, a composer Alexandr Sparinsky, a receptionist of a hostel whose name we unfortunately don't know, two soldiers from the East and a leader of Orange Revolution in 2005 Oleh Rybachuk. They briefly summarize the happenings of 2013 and set the focus on the status quo. Ukraine´s disappearance from the news made us curious. We want our characters to report about the memories of the revolution and especially their daily life after the Maidan protests.
The calm before the storm:
Ukraine before revolution:
april '13: