\u201cMuseums have been the institutions that form the mentality for a long time, and will remain ones. Back in the 70s when they were founded, their primary mission was to promote the communist regime. They were, so to say, \u2018loudspeakers of the Kremlin\u2019s position\u2019. Today the museums\u2019 functions are actually the same as the ones they took up in the 70s-80s,\u201d says Leonid Marushchak. \u201cIn our opinion the complicated socio-cultural and political situation in Ukraine will continue until these institutions change, as all generations pass through them. Museums are the place where the identity of a nation, city and of a country on the whole is being formed. That\u2019s why we\u2019ve chosen the museum as the place for quality changes. Starting from 2015 we have implemented several projects in the framework of the \u2018Cultural diplomacy between the regions of Ukraine\u2019 program, in course of which we familiarized ourselves with the eastern region. We researched the situation and held a series of events. We\u2019ve worked a lot with the civil society, opinion leaders, museum staff as well as with the state departments for culture at all levels. We gained their support. Museum personnel agree that something is not going well in their museums and that they do need the changes. They also admit that they lack the tools for change,\u201d Marushchak explains.<\/p>\n
UCMC familiarizes the readers with some of the activities and events implemented in the framework of the project.<\/p>\n New events bring in new audience <\/strong><\/p>\n For the first time local history museums of Slovyansk and Lysychansk become the space where contemporary Ukrainian art will be presented. A series of \u201cartist talk\u201d events is to follow. Thus, in the beginning of February the Lysychansk museum hosted a screening of the anthology film on street art \u201cKontury\u201d (outlines). Public discussion on contemporary media art as well as the meeting with the founder of the Kyiv-based artistic space \u201cEfir\u201d Oleksandr Dolhy were organized. The interactive format between the audience and artists here is unusual, the project team notes. Events of a new type bring in new type of audience into the museums. The museums themselves become a platform that start attracting and consolidating the civil society.<\/p>\n On February 17 the Lysychansk local history museum hosted the opening of the exhibition \u201cMuseum of the Svitlohrad city\u201d. The exposition was created on the spot as a site-specific work by artists of the \u201cDE NE DE\u201d initiative. The artists explained that in the Soviet times it was planned to merge the city of Lysychansk with the two neighboring ones \u2013 Rubizhne and Severdonetsk into a conglomerate named Svitlohrad. The idea was never implemented though. In the framework of the \u201cMuseum of the Svitlohrad city\u201d artists explore the present-day territory of the utopian city through photographs, video, installations and work with space. Basement of the Lysychansk local history museum was chosen to host the exposition, it earlier operated as museum\u2019s holdings and was closed for visitors.<\/p>\n Professional community formed<\/strong><\/p>\n The project aims to not only transform the museum space in eastern Ukraine, but to also engage the museum staff into the life of their industry peers as well as to consolidate the professional community. \u201cThrough a series of workshops, discussions and conferences we plan to introduce the museum staff to each other both at the regional and at national level,\u201d said Olha Honchar. Museum personnel took part in the first training events within the project back in November 2016. The team of the Lysychansk local history museum paid a visit to the Dmytro Yavornytsky Dnipropetrovsk history museum. The team of the Slovyansk-based museum attended a master-class on the national costume presented by the experts of the Kyiv-based Ukrainian institute of fashion history and the National Art Museum. On February 21-24 Slovyansk hosted the workshop entitled \u201cMuseum\u2019s modern work methods\u201d. Museum directors, custodians and researchers from about 40 museums of Donetsk and Luhansk regions got practical knowledge and skills in museum and project management, communications and research work.<\/p>\n Museum\u2019s new equipment and a YouTube hit <\/strong><\/p>\n As part of the project the Slovyansk local history museum received up-to-date technical equipment that helped implement several projects. It would have been not possible before. The items of technical equipment that the museum got include a drone, an electron microscope, a range finder, a photo and a video camera, a laptop and a projector. It is planned that in the future other museums of the region will be able to use the technical devices of the so-called \u201cMuseum laboratory\u201d as well. The museum drone has already been in use to explore the region. The video of the huge monument to Artem (the Soviet official) in Svyatohirsk, Donetsk region, became a hit on the project\u2019s YouTube channel. Check it out here<\/a>.<\/p>\n Thanks to the electron microscope a workshop was held at the Slovyansk local history museum where industry experts learnt the difference between the original exhibit, its copy and a replica. The piece used as an example was a bronze aquamanile (water container) of the 13th<\/sup> century from the Lower Saxony. Its original is being stored in the Slovyansk museum while a copy and a replica \u2013 in the neighboring Svyatohirsk museum.<\/p>\n From commercial products of zero artistic value to the creative industry<\/strong><\/p>\n By exploring the local context the artists – participants of the project also point at the possibilities that remain unnoticed. This is the case of the exhibition \u201cSlavkeramprodukt. Working with the material\u201d at the Slovyansk local history museum. Young Kyiv-based artists Anna Sorokova and Taras Kovach curated the show. Ceramics production has been one of the key local industries over the centuries. The main pretext for that were the raw materials that the region is rich in. In the end of the 19th<\/sup> \u2013 in the beginning of the 20th<\/sup> century big production facilities that were producing tiles and pottery appeared. In the Soviet times the industrial-scale production kept growing. As Ukraine got its independence ceramic production moved into the small business niche but lost its aesthetic component. The exposition tracks historic development of ceramics production in the region through the actual holdings of the Slovyansk local history museum. The show also sports a more ambitious aim: to establish the basis so that local ceramics production becomes a creative industry.<\/p>\n Follow the latest developments of the \u201cUnder construction: Museum open\u201d project on UCMC web site through the materials tagged <\/em>\u201c<\/em>MuseumOpen<\/em><\/a>\u201d <\/em>and<\/em> \u00ab<\/em>\u041a\u0443\u043b\u044c\u0442\u0443\u0440\u0430<\/em><\/a>\u00bb<\/em> as well as on the project\u2019s Facebook pages of the <\/em>Lysychansk<\/em><\/a> and <\/em>Slovyansk<\/em><\/a> local history museums.<\/em><\/p>\n Cover photo: opening of the exhibition \u201cSlavkeramprodukt. Working with the material\u201d at the Slovyansk local history museum.<\/span> Photo<\/a> by Yulia Svitla.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/15.2.17.-MuseumOpen-new-audience-1.jpg\")
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