Paris – Discussion « Heritage International Protection in Wartime: the case of Ukraine »

As the war in Ukraine drags on, this event will address political and urban dimensions of heritage protection through a discussion with the leading Ukrainian architect and scholar, co-founder of the Urban Forms Center in Kharkiv, Ievgeniia Gubkina, and the Director of the Culture and Emergencies entity at UNESCO, Krista Pikkat.

After the Euro Maidan revolution in 2014, Ukraine has become a beacon for grass-roots experiments in Soviet heritage conservation. NGOs, artists and heritage interpreters are all involved, and a nation-wide discussion about architecture as vehicle for debating conflicting memories, nationhood, citizenship, corruption and new arts forms is unfolding. Ukrainian modernist interpreters were among the most active internationally on social media and have been releasing books with major international publishers. Modernist buildings became popular places for both domestic and international artists to create, for local counterculture to flourish, and for grass-root democratisation and Europeanisation to advance.

Ievgeniia Gubkina will introduce the cultural and political significance of (pre-war) Ukraine with regard to 20th Century heritage. A short experimental film on constructivist and modernist heritage in Kharkiv will be screened to illustrate her lecture. Krista Pikkat will review the protection efforts deployed by UNESCO in Ukraine, as well as those used during armed conflicts more broadly.