Discussion Seeking and hiding. Looking for common and distinctive traces in Nordic, Baltic, Ukrainian identities

On March 20 at 13.00 Ukraine Crisis Media Center will host a discussion that is part of the exhibition “Identity. Behind the Curtain of Uncertainty” that opens at the National Art Museum of Ukraine later this week. The exhibition will present contemporary art of the Baltic states, Nordic countries and of Ukraine. Exhibition curator Solvita Krese (Latvia) as well as international and Ukrainian artists participating in the exhibition will take part of the discussion.

We might ask what common features are shared by the Nordic countries, the Baltics and Ukraine, to bring together artists from these territories to survey the marks of identity left on today’s world, and why this theme should be prodded at this exact moment. What is it that forms the identity of these territories? Is it a sum of assumptions about one’s self held by each individual, or is it determined by some external opinion, stereotypes and assumptions?

It is not easy to discuss the identity of Europe or any other region without avoiding the constructs of myths and clichés. Perhaps it is simpler to draw the topography of identity once an individual’s sense of belonging to a certain territory, nation, social or ethnic group has been surveyed and we have recognized the depositories of collective memory and common references.

Moderator: curator Solvita Krese (LV), Riga-based art curator and art critic, Director of the Latvian Center for Contemporary Arts

Participants: artists Matts Leiderstam (SE), Kristina Norman (EE), Roman Minin (UA), Tellervo Kalleinen (FI)

Working languages: Ukrainian and English, simultaneous translation is provided

Venue address: Ukraine Crisis Media Centre (Ukrainian House at the European Square, Khreschatyk 2). Livestream: https://uacrisis.org/ua/stream

Free access

Identity. Behind the Curtain of Uncertainty exhibition is a joint project of Nordic-Baltic countries and Ukraine, made in cooperation with Latvian Center for Contemporary Art, supported by the Ambassadors of Denmark, Estonia, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Finland, Sweden to Ukraine.

Exhibition is open at the National Art Museum of Ukraine until May 22, 2016.

Detailed information on educational program and project news are available on the web site of the National Art Museum of Ukraine: http://namu.kiev.ua

Communication partner: Ukraine Crisis Media Centre https://uacrisis.org