Culture Commons for a resilient Ukraine. We invite you to a lecture by Marjo van Schaik.
The lecture will be followed by a short reflection by Anastasiya Ponomaryova - an architect, researcher, and co-founder of NGO Urban Curators and СO-HATY initiative.
At a time when many Ukrainian cities have lost their public spaces — physically or symbolically — questions of belonging, mutual support, and cultural life become especially significant.
The culture commons model — the shared use of cultural spaces — opens up new possibilities for recovery: not only infrastructural, but also social. This approach is based on the idea that culture is not merely something to be consumed, but a space for co-creation, where communities themselves define what is valuable and necessary to them.
In the Ukrainian context, this model is particularly relevant. The war has brought many challenges, especially social and demographic. Cities cannot be rebuilt by technology alone — solutions must also take into account the people who live there.
Fortunately, Ukraine has a long tradition of community cooperation. Even before Soviet times, Ukrainians came together to solve large-scale tasks. This tradition is known as “toloka” — when a community unites to accomplish something that cannot be done alone. Combining toloka with the modern idea of the commons provides a foundation for new connections and stronger communities.
This approach will be discussed by Marjo van Schaik, a textile artist and public space researcher who regularly works with Ukrainian teams in Zhytomyr, Kharkiv, Kyiv, Soledar and other cities. Her research, Spaces of Culture, was published by NAI in 2018 as an adapted version of her Ph.D. thesis for a wider audience. She wrote an article about cultural commons for a resilient Ukraine for the ICCPR in Warsaw last year.The meeting will be moderated by Ro3kvit project manager Lilet Breddels.
Join the discussion!
Speakers
Marjo van Schaik
a textile artist and public space researcher who regularly works with Ukrainian teams in Zhytomyr, Kharkiv, Kyiv, Soledar and other cities