Screenshot from the documentation of the piece "Mediators. Lira player" by the group Р.Е.П. (2006).

Since the beginning of the Russian full-scale war in Ukraine, the world has paid more attention to Ukrainian art and (re-)discovered it as part of a postcolonial discourse. In this public lecture, Ukrainian curator and Stockholm University master student Valeriia Buradzhyieva will address stereotypical performative representations of Ukraine imposed by Russian imperialism that prevailed in the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union. These representations continue, to some extent, to be perpetuated in the portrayal of Ukraine. As part of this theme, the lecture will also present some key Ukrainian performance art works and movements of the 20th and 21st centuries and analyse these in light of the social and political conditions of the time. How has performance art evolved and interacted with other art genres? What is the place of language in performance? How did Ukrainian performance art foresee and react to the full-scale war?

The lecture will be given in English.

About the lecturer

Valeriia Buradzhyieva is a curator from Kyiv, Ukraine, who is completing her Master's degree in Performance Studies at Stockholm University. Currently, she is producing a play by Ukrainian director Pavlo Yurov titled Silence, Silence, Silence, Please and working at a contemporary dance production company in Stockholm. In 2021, Valeriia Buradzhyieva collaborated with the IZOLYATSIA Foundation to compile and publish a handbook on integrating contemporary arts practices into the education of children and young adults.

International Master's Programme in Performance Studies

Research in Theatre Studies at Stockholm University