The Ukrainian Institute London contributed to the building of a separate narrative of the Ukrainian Revolution of 1917 in the year of its centenary by holding a dedicated series of popular events – “The century of Ukrainian Revolution: 1017-2017.”
This project was instrumental in projecting Ukraine’s voice on what the events of 1917 meant for Ukraine and the repercussions of the 1917 national revolution which took place in Kyiv at that time. Furthermore, the project went on to explore the cultural revolution in Ukraine in the 1920s, the flourishing of its arts, cinema, and theatre, which came to an abrupt halt in the early 1930s.
Several events highlighting the historic background of those years were held, including a public lecture by Professor Mark von Hagen, “Why Ukrainian Revolution matters for the historians of Russian Revolutions?” at LSE, a presentation of Anne Applebaum’s highly-acclaimed “Red Famine: Stalin’s War on Ukraine” at EBRD, and an overview of new research on peasant revolts in Ukraine following the Bolshevik takeover of 1917, provided by PhD student Dimitri Tovkatsch.
The Institute featured Ukrainian avant-garde cinema of the period at some of London’s leading institutions – the Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA) and Bertha DocHouse, as well as LSE. It organised the screenings of five films from the period, including three gems by iconic director Olexander Dovzhenko – “The Enchanted Place”, “Arsenal” and “Earth” as well as “In Spring” by Mikhail Kaufman and “Bread” by Mykola Shpykovsky. It also provided cultural context to those screenings by holding talks and panel discussions, attended by Rory Finnin (Cambridge University), Phil Cavendish (UCL), Stavislav Menzelevskyj (National Dovzhenko Centre), and Ian Christie.
The Institute extended the concept of the project into contemporary Ukraine and explored the issue of de-communisation, a prominent feature of public life in Ukraine today, and stimulated a debate about preserving the artefacts of the Soviet era. It held a launch of “Decommunised: Ukrainian Soviet mosaics,” published by Kyiv-based Osnovy-Publishing at EBRD.
In addition to these events, the Institute’s Director contributed to a public debate in Ukraine about how the narrative of the 1917 Ukrainian revolution should be celebrated.
These efforts culminated in the Institute’s fundraising reception “Revolution!”, a celebration of Ukraine’s creative political freedoms of the era. “Revolution!” featured opening speeches by Anne Applebaum, columnist and author, Natalia Galibarenko, Ukraine’s Ambassador to the UK, a charitable auction featuring items of the Ukrainian avant-garde, music from the period, and more.
