"Anfang des Krieges. Tagebücher aus Kiew"
international literature festival berlin (ilb), 9 September 2022
As the opening event of the Echo Echo. Post-Soviet Cosmopolis special programme at the ilb, the Ukrainian artist and author Yevgenia Belorusets (Dorothea Schlegel Artist in Residence at the Cluster between August and September 2022) presented and discussed her diaries from Kyiv that will be released on October 13. The volume brings together notes, texts and articles written and recorded before and during the events of the extended Russian invasion of Ukraine – in particular Kyiv – that had previously been published or broadcast on various print and radio outlets.
Published by Matthes & Seitz, the volume interweaves and juxtaposes Yevgenia Belorusets’ written material and photographs, painting a complex picture of the wartime events in Kyiv and how this radically altered context transformed the daily lives of its residents.
In a conversation with Natascha Freundel broadcast live on rbb (German), the artist offers fresh insights into the political context of the war and her artistic approach to it.