Kaleidoscope of (Hi)stories conference and publication

Started as an exhibition in the Albertinum, Kaleidoscope of (Hi)stories has evolved into an accurate and fitting title for a broader ongoing project. It has opened up a versatile framework for the reflection and comprehension of Ukrainian art, facilitating the infusion of new meanings, values, and interpretations. Kaleidoscope has grown into a Research Platform hosting a series of traveling exhibitions, lectures, publications and a residency program. The entire project reassembles the history of art in Ukraine and its heritage through scattered fragments, voices, and new concepts, laying the groundwork for the future of a multifaceted and heterogeneous culture.

From November 24 to 26, Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden invite you to join an international conference at Albertinum to share the results of the Research Platform within the framework of the Kaleidoscope of (Hi)stories. This dynamic conference encompasses presentations, discussions, lectures, screenings, artist talks, on topics such as Museums and Collections, Dialectics of Modernity, and Artistic and Cultural Actions during the War and an audiovisual performance The Garden of Immaculate Voices by Denys Karachevtsev.

The Kaleidoscope of (Hi)stories exhibition catalogue delves into complexity and diversity of Ukrainian art emphasizing individual experiences and personal stories intertwined with historical processes and contemporary reality. The four main curatorial essays, namely “Practices of Resistance,” “Culture of Memory,” “Spaces of Freedom,” and “Thoughts about the Future” offer reflections on the parallels between past and present, providing a cross-chronological perspective. The past serves as a lens through which we navigate the  tragic events of today. Additionally, essays by the artists Yevgenia Belorusets and Larion Lozovyi articulate the country's fluctuating state by revisiting the notions of migration, a new nomadism caused by the current war in Ukraine, and (de)modernization. 

Authors: Marion Ackermann, Yevgenia Belorusets, Beatrice von Bormann, Maria Isserlis, Tatiana Kochubinska, Larion Lozovyi, Aude Christel Mgba, and Hilke Wagner. 

A publication by Waanders, Museum de Fundatie and Staatlichen Kunstsammlungen Dresden. 

Participants in the conference: Anna Aliyeva, Yevgenia Belorusets, Andrij Bojarov, Sergey Bratkov, Volodymyr Budnikov, Olha Honchar, Maria Isserlis, Zhanna Kadyrova, Alevtina Kakhidze, Denys Karachevtsev, Alona Karavai, Tatiana Kochubinska, Olena Korus, Sasha Kurmaz, Larion Lozovyi, Mykhailo Minakov, Liubov Morozova, Olha Povoroznyk, Vlada Ralko, Mykola Ridnyi, Valeria Schiller, Robbie Schweiger, Dmytro Starusiev, Bohdan Tetianych, Kateryna Tsyhykalo, Hilke Wagner, Clemens von Wedemeyer

The conference will be streamed and recorded on the SKD youtube channel.

The programme is developed in partnership with Ukrainian Institute and kindly supported by Federal Foreign Office of Germany and Ernst von Siemens Kunststiftung.