We’ve all heard the rumours, late-night utterances among the subcultural cognoscenti: Kiev is the new Berlin. With a burgeoning techno scene and EasyJetset status, not to mention an inherent (albeit immensely problematic) “post-Soviet” appeal, it’s no wonder Kiev is rife with jaded Berliners and Ukrainian creatives living their best lives. But the city’s youth has done far more for Kiev than merely solidify its cool status: they’ve shaped a radical opposition to their country’s government.
It was in 2013 that Ukraine chose to suspend signing an EU association agreement in a clear attempt to strengthen ties with Russia and Eurasia. The decision was met with national uproar, sparking widespread fury over government corruption, abuse of power and human rights violations that led to calls for President Yanukovych’s immediate resignation and sparked a series of demonstrations and protests across Ukraine. An anti-establishment rebellion fuelled by the country’s vehemently pro-EU generation, Euromaidan was not only a revolution but a patent signal of the disparity between the Ukranian government and its youth.
Fast forward five years and the faces of Kiev’s young generation are flooding the media for a different reason. Shaped by a generation of artists, activists and renegade-thinkers, the Ukrainian capital has incited a sense of intrigue that’s not so different from Berlin’s. And its protagonists — the city’s musicians, collectives and creatives — are quite rightly creating a buzz. It’s these same creatives that take centre stage in multimedia project, Kak Dela Kyiv, which loosely translates to What’s Up Kiev? Conceived by four young creatives — Jana Antonissen (journalist), Ksenia Les (photographer), Nadja Scherff (videographer), and Bogdan Kolchenko (research and translation) — the initiative seeks to shed light on Kiev’s now-generation, tracing the identity of a modern Ukrainian youth culture which has so often been overshadowed by discussions of war and political unrest. Through a series of profiles, photographs and video interviews, Kak Dela Kyiv examines the importance of Kiev’s thriving youth generation and the problematic “post-Soviet” lens through which they’ve entered the spotlight.
So as the Kak Dela Kyiv website prepares to launch with a special event in Berlin (and as Ryanair announces flights from the German capital which cost less than entry to Berghain), we introduce five Ukraine-based creatives shaping Kiev’s underground scene, and find out what the city and its “post-Soviet” stigma means to them.
Masha Reva
Masha Reva is a fashion designer and illustrator, who studied at CSM before creating her own brand — which innovatively treads the line between art and fashion, encompassing both her passions — and collaborating with Jacquemus for his 2017 book, Marseille Je T’aime.
“Before Euromaidan our generation was not really united. That’s all changed now. Back then we did not take our national identity too seriously — we were sometimes even ashamed to admit we were from Ukraine; a post-Soviet country that was not performing well on different levels. My teachers at Central Saint Martin’s used to joke that they had never even heard of Ukraine… I was in Kiev by chance when the demonstrations started; I was taking a sabbatical, unsure whether I wanted to continue working in fashion. Because of all the positive changes I saw around me I decided to stay here. People opened up, started their own businesses. We have so many more cool places to go to today.”
Jana Woodstock
German-born DJ, Jana Woodsotck, grew up in Hannover and is known on the Kiev scene for her dark, industrial techno that speaks of Berlin before anywhere else.
“I think you can compare the current atmosphere of Kiev’s club scene and how it developed since Euromaidan with that period right after the Berlin wall came down. Today, DJs from all over the world are asking me to arrange a gig for them in Kiev. It seems like everybody wants to play here now; it’s crazy.”
Vova Vorotniov
Conceptual visual artist Vova Vorotniov describes himself as an “urban ethnographer”. He creates striking, sometimes playful, multimedia work that “traces disappearing Soviet material culture and its transformation into post-Soviet forms.”
“A lot of kids here are surfing on this post-Soviet fetish from the West, thereby idealising an aesthetic which they have no clue about; they don’t know what it actually stood for. It’s a very wrong, post-Cold War perspective to view Ukraine as a developing country. The EU is going through a massive identity crisis today; I don’t believe they are in the right position to tell us how everything should be done. Maybe Europe could learn something from Ukraine, instead of the other way around.”
Yasya Khomenko
Young designer Yasya Khomenko is inspired by second-hand clothes and children’s fairy tales — influences she channels in her brand, Rcr Khomenko, through which she aims to achieve “a real mass-market of upcycled clothes in Ukraine”.
“I don’t want to be part of this so-called post-Soviet hype because I was not touched by it in my childhood. In general I don’t really appreciate the style, because it often feels dishonest. And honestly, we are not a zoo for the West.”
Sasha Tessio
Sasha Tessio is one half of the “obscure dance music” DJ-duo Krossfingers, releasing on the Lisbon-based imprint, Maintain Replay Records.
“Since the revolution young people feel more European. The feeling that we could actually change something installed a lot of hope.”
The outcome of the Kak Dela Kyiv project will be shown in Berlin tonight, accompanied by a DJ set from Jana Woodstock. For more information head here.