Interview #10 Mykhailo Glubokyi
The development director of Ukrainian cultural foundation Izolyatsia explains how the Russian invasion of Ukraine affects his country and why European cultural cooperation is needed in this context.
Mykhailo Glubokyi is the development director of the Izolyatsia foundation, a Ukrainian cultural project settled initially in Donetsk and which moved to Kyiv in 2014 due to the Russian military aggression of Ukraine. Izolyatsia is a member of the European supported network Trans Europe Halle.
Lacets: Can you shortly present yourself and your organisation?
Mykhailo Glubokyi : My name is Mykhailo Glubokyi, I'm the development director of the IZOLYATSIA foundation. I have worked in the organisation since 2011 and have been a part of most of the organisation's projects. “IZOLYATSIA. Platform for cultural initiatives” had been incepted in Donetsk, Ukraine, on a former insulation materials factory site. Donetsk used to be an important industrial and financial centre with coal mining, metal production, engineering, agriculture and more. It also inherited many mines and factories in decline. Some of them were abandoned, and some were used as warehouses and storages. We had an opportunity to utilize the premises of an insulation materials plant incepted in 1955 and shut down in 2005. The name of our organization comes from original name of the plant, that means “Insulation”. From 2010-2014 we developed a project of turning the factory into a contemporary creative hub with several exhibition spaces, workshops for artists, a fab lab, a cinema, a library, and a cafe. The idea behind the institution was brave: to bring new cultural and economic life to the city, provide people with knowledge and education about a new world of the creative economy, and show a vast world of contemporary culture and arts and use that as a foundation for new projects and ideas.
What is the situation for you now and for Izolyatsia?
In 2014 Russia-backed militia took Izolyatsia territories by force. They were building a new totalitarian regime, and there was no place for open dialogue or critical arts. Izolyatsia was the second place they captured after regional and city governments. Still, we know little about what's going on on-site. We know, however, that the area is turned into illegal prison. "Illegal" means that Ukraine or international humanitarian organisations have no access to it, nor Russia or its proxies recognize it. No Red cross or other humanitarian organisations were ever allowed to visit the prison. If someone you know is detained there, you will never know, and Russia will never acknowledge that. From the testimonies of those who managed to survive Izolyatsia prison, we know the horrors of torture and humiliation, forced labour, sexual violence and more. Stanislav Asieiev, Ukrainian journalist captured by the Russian security service and spent 28 months there, wrote a book, "Torture camp on Paradise Street". The book is available in French, German, Dutch, Ukrainian and Russian, with an English translation coming soon. More information about Izolyatsia illegal prison is available here.
Izolyatsia foundation has moved to Kyiv and started its work from scratch. We developed a new creative hub called "IZONE" on the premises of Kyiv Shipyard. The place gave birth to multiple creative startups, artistic projects, exhibitions, prominent young curators and cultural managers. For the last eight years, we have worked in Ukraine, the European Union, the United States, the Caucasus region. While we were developing topics that were important for the whole country and the world, we never lost focus on the East of Ukraine with various projects, educational and capacity-building programs, research and more. Later, in 2020 we started to focus on decentralisation. Ukraine’s government implemented a very successful reform that created new independent territorial communities, with their own departments of culture and more funds staying in local budgets, instead of flowing to the capital. This created a lot of opportunities all around the country and new city governments interested in cultural development and longing for expert support. In 2019 we started to travel around the country on a Community Culture Bus, an old Volvo bus, retrofitted to be a full-scale cultural center on wheels. We worked with small communities all around the country, co-creating specific programs crafted for needs of specific community. In 2021 we finally moved central office from Kyiv to the city of Soledar, a small but essential salt mining city in the Donetsk region that we wanted to turn into a cultural hub for the whole region.
Unfortunately, with the full-scale invasion of Russia into Ukraine, our plans were dismissed. Soledar is at the frontline now. Russian missiles and artillery strikes almost wiped out the city. Our space in Kyiv is also out of reach. We are using funds we planned to use for culture to provide humanitarian help to smaller communities around Ukraine.
We are very grateful to our donors (European Union, Danish Cultural Institute, European Culture Foundation, and Goethe Institute) for being flexible and allowing us to adjust our programs. Of course, we are still doing cultural projects, but our cultural priority number one is to provide infrastructure support to Ukrainian cultural organisations, artists and cultural professionals. Outside Ukraine, we are engaged in cultural diplomacy work, representing the Ukranian cultural sector at all important decision-making events. We are also still trying to be involved in European-wide projects, like Culture Moves Europe or Creative Europe projects and provide help to Ukranian artists and cultural professionals abroad.
As a member of the European network Trans Europe Halles (TEH), how did you feel the support of European cultural actors in the past months since the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine?
We feel enormous support from European cultural actors from the beginning of the full-scale invasion of Russia. As usual, civil society reacted with lightning-fast speed. We saw our friends from the European cultural sector going to the border as volunteers, meeting Ukrainian displaced people, and providing them with first help. Cultural centres turned into temporary housings for those who lost their homes, organising fundraisings, providing their spaces for exhibitions, and raising awareness of their communities about the war. Trans Europe Halles immediately created a solidarity fund to support Ukranian member organisations and those European members who worked to accept and support people from Ukraine and setup emergency meetings to brainstorm more support from their members: residencies, fellowships, various programs for displaced people. Our friends from all over Europe were donating money so that we could send it directly to Ukrainian people in need. Later, together with TEH, we did a series of workshops and research to determine ways for cultural centres to support Ukrainian artists and cultural professionals better and together with the Swedish Institute, we launched a Re-Source Ukraine program to support organisations in 7 countries that are bordering Ukraine and working with Ukrainian refugees. In February-March 2023, we plan a European-wide festival to support and represent Ukrainian artists and talk about a year since the start of the full-scale invasion of the Russian Federation to Ukraine. We are very thankful for that support. We will never forget it and hope that the spirit of solidarity will be kept for all the challenges that wait for us in the future.
More globally, do you perceive that Western European cultural organisations have shown more support/interest towards Ukraine and Ukrainian culture since February 24th?
I think yes. In a situation as we have now, there is never enough support and interest. Since the beginning of the war in 2014, we have had a lot of help from our friends all over Europe. But since February 24th, the level of atrocities and damage to the cultural sector has increased exponentially. This requires much more robust and broader response. We see that organisations all around the Europe are taking the stand and trying to provide as much help as possible. From what we see now, European Union, represented by Creative Europe, is slowly rolling into the scene with their much-needed programs for large-scale support of the Ukrainian cultural sector. All this support works out of the synergy of European independent institutions' desire to help, European public bodies' infrastructural support and Ukrainian organisations and individuals' constant public cultural diplomacy efforts, working with stakeholders, providing information, content and creative proposals for how we all together can help each other.
The European Commission launched a few calls for projects dedicated to Ukrainian artists. There have also been the decision to postpone the Creative Europe cooperation call for application deadlines last March to include more Ukrainian organisations in the European cooperations. Is it something (being involved in any European project) that Ukrainian actors could consider despite the war?
We understand that Creative Europe is an enormous beast that needs some time to start moving in the right direction. Postponing application deadlines and encouraging European organisations to include Ukranian partners is their way to show support and affection. We know that many Ukranian organisations used the opportunity and I believe that the program supported cultural professionals to stay in the profession, for some institutions to keep going with their programs and provide quality content in frames of their professional interest. I remember it was hard to come up with concrete proposals in Spring 2022. Still, I'm sure that after the call results are announced, grantees will find a creative way to use the funds for the good of the Ukranian cultural sector and Ukrainian society in general.
How can European cultural organisations keep on supporting Ukraine, its artists and its cultural organisations?
There is quite a large number of things European cultural organisations can do:
Present Ukranian art in your spaces. Be ambassadors of Ukrainian cultural products in your communities;
Provide Ukranian narratives in the work of your cultural institutions. This includes the decolonisation of Russian narratives used in Western cultural institutions (for example, attribution of all the artworks produced in the Russian Empire and Soviet Union to Russia, inviting Russian artists to speak on behalf of Ukraine (yes, this is still a thing)), or just reminding that Ukraine had always been a part of Europe and that our history is pretty much intertwined. Organise discussions and presentations, talk to your audiences about these topics;
Participate in advocation efforts to make local and European-wide decision-makers even more effective in support of Ukraine;
Provide Ukrainian artists and cultural professionals with jobs and opportunities to continue their careers abroad, share information about funding, residency, mobility, and educational possibilities for Ukranian artists and cultural professionals. Do mentorship or networking events to better integrate Ukrainian artists and cultural professionals into your local cultural scene;
Participate in developing cultural and artistic projects in Ukraine and support existing institutions. Organise educational events for emerging artists and cultural organisations working hard without the state's support. Ensure Ukrainian artists and cultural professionals have a place to return when the war is over to avoid brain drains. Help organisations with equipment needed for their work;
Work with Ukrainian displaced people in your cities.
Participate in the restoration of cultural heritage and institutions damaged or destroyed by war.
Participate in urban restoration and rebuilding efforts, use your expertise in urbanism, architecture, sustainable building development, working with local communities etc.
Organise fundraisers for refugees and humanitarian aid organisations working in Ukraine (but please do not donate to big international organisations like Red Cross or Amnesty International; they are expensive and ineffective).
According to you, what is the role of art and culture (in Ukraine but also elsewhere) in the current war?
Back in 1919, Ukraine was fighting for its independence against Russia. To promote its culture and to persuade Western politicians that Ukraine needs international support, Symon Petlura, a prominent Ukrainian state figure of that time, created many initiatives to be presented abroad to show the richness and authenticity of Ukrainian culture. One of the projects they did was Ukrainian Republic Capella. It was very successful, very welcomed worldwide and changed minds of many western intellectuals about Ukraine’s need for independence. Unfortunately, the Independent Ukraine of 1918-1921 was swallowed by Bolshevik Russia, but Ukrainian Republic Capella presented the world with various masterpieces. One of them is the famous Christmas carol "Carol of the Bells", written by Mykola Leontovych.
Now, Ukranian culture is still something we all are fighting for in this war. During the last eight years, we have finally started to break the chains of Russian colonialism, restore and develop our own authentic culture with close ties to the culture of other European nations. We can see that more and more independent initiatives were being created all over the country by people ready to take responsibility for their communities. These people made their unique understanding of Ukraine, and this concept is something we want to preserve and keep on developing further. Russia's victory in this war will mean that all the Ukranian culture will be wiped out and replaced by Russian culture, history and values. This is something Russia has been doing to many different nations all around the continent. We cannot allow this, and it is what every Ukrainian is fighting against.
Communities participating in various cultural projects are now gathering together into strong civil organisations, taking action to support their fellow citizens, the army, internally displaced people from other regions and more. Art is used as a tool of reflection, research, and documentation of the war, but also as a tool of relief and support for those damaged by the war. Art is used as a tool of diplomacy and communication.
When the war is over, there will be countless topics for research and sharing experiences with other European nations, including ways to self-organise, cooperate, adapt to new circumstances and rebuild from scratch. Restoration of Ukraine should become a new European dream and a point of connection of all the European efforts and initiatives. Especially cultural ones.