We\u2019ve 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) \u201cpost-Soviet\u201d appeal, it\u2019s no wonder Kiev is rife with jaded Berliners and Ukrainian creatives living their best lives. But the city\u2019s youth has done far more for Kiev than merely solidify its cool status: they\u2019ve shaped a radical opposition to their country\u2019s government.<\/p>\n
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\u2019s immediate resignation and sparked a series of demonstrations and protests across Ukraine. An anti-establishment rebellion fuelled by the country\u2019s vehemently pro-EU generation, Euromaidan was not only a revolution but a patent signal of the disparity between the Ukranian government and its youth.<\/p>\n
Fast forward five years and the faces of Kiev\u2019s 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\u2019s not so different from Berlin\u2019s. And its protagonists \u2014 the city\u2019s musicians, collectives and creatives \u2014 are quite rightly creating a buzz. It\u2019s these same creatives that take centre stage in multimedia project, Kak Dela Kyiv, which loosely translates to What\u2019s Up Kiev? Conceived by four young creatives \u2014 Jana Antonissen (journalist), Ksenia Les (photographer), Nadja Scherff (videographer), and Bogdan Kolchenko (research and translation) \u2014 the initiative seeks to shed light on Kiev\u2019s 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\u2019s thriving youth generation and the problematic \u201cpost-Soviet\u201d lens through which they\u2019ve entered the spotlight.<\/p>\n
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\u2019s underground scene, and find out what the city and its \u201cpost-Soviet\u201d stigma means to them.<\/p>\n
Masha Reva is a fashion designer and illustrator, who studied at CSM before creating her own brand \u2014 which innovatively treads the line between art and fashion, encompassing both her passions \u2014 and collaborating with Jacquemus for his 2017 book,\u00a0Marseille Je T\u2019aime.<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cBefore Euromaidan our generation was not really united.\u00a0<\/em>That\u2019s all changed now. Back then we did not take our national identity too seriously \u2014 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\u2019s used to joke that they had never even heard of Ukraine\u2026 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.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n \u201cI think you can compare the\u00a0current atmosphere of Kiev\u2019s 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\u2019s crazy.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n Conceptual visual artist Vova Vorotniov describes himself as an \u201curban ethnographer\u201d. He creates striking, sometimes playful, multimedia work that \u201ctraces disappearing Soviet material culture and its transformation into post-Soviet forms.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cA 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\u2019t know what it actually stood for.\u00a0It\u2019s 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\u2019t 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.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n Young designer Yasya Khomenko\u00a0is inspired by second-hand clothes and children\u2019s fairy tales \u2014 influences she channels in her brand, Rcr Khomenko, through which she aims to achieve \u201ca real mass-market of upcycled clothes in Ukraine\u201d.<\/p>\nJana Woodstock<\/b><\/h2>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"instagram","code":"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/Be6IY80jKfp\/","settings":{"width":"10"}},{"acf_fc_layout":"text_area","text_area":"
Vova Vorotniov<\/b><\/h2>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"instagram","code":"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/BeSoxDkDUan\/","settings":{"width":"10"}},{"acf_fc_layout":"text_area","text_area":"
Yasya Khomenko<\/b><\/h2>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"instagram","code":"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/BjzIUzwBBMp","settings":{"width":"10"}},{"acf_fc_layout":"text_area","text_area":"