Prague Quadrienalle of Scenography-2023

The Ukrainian pavilion foresees an installation approach to the exhibition which should also become a "living" interactive space. The space will encourage visitors not only to perceive the finished installation, but also to join the process of creating its content, to revive it by communication with its elements.

The common space of the pavilion will create the image of a sacred for Ukrainian culture garden. The garden is a space that connects generations, saves memory. It also saves connection between the earth, heaven, and underworld. It is a symbol of growth. In the earthly Ukrainian garden we can hear echoes of the garden of heaven - the forgotten homeland of humanity.  At the same time, the Garden preserves artifacts which are witnesses and participants of Ukrainian history. Each artifact is not just a household thing - it is a thing in the middle of which we can see the whole cosmos, endowed with its own soul.

During the war in Ukraine, a small kitchen cabinet survived on a completely bombed by Russian missiles house. A fragile and defenseless ceramic jug has survived on the shelf of this cabinet. It became one of the symbols of Ukrainian resistance. Resistance to the aggression of a giant nuclear country. A pram, left in the middle of a war-torn street, clothes, taken off by firefighters during a rescue operation, and toys, left in bomb shelters. Every such thing preserves the whole world of war. If you can listen and talk to it, this thing can tell a story.

The united installation space (labyrinth) will accommod 12 objects created especially for this pavilion by various Ukrainian scenographers. Each of these objects will involve the viewer in some interaction.  This interaction will lead to the unique sound of the objects. The sound will be the basis of each object.  It will be carried out in different ways: from mechanical acoustic to electronically programmed. Each of these art artifacts will tell its own story.

An object, a thing, and an artifact is a medium of human civilization, medium of communication and information carrier.  It is the object both in art and in people's lives, which provokes reflection during various limitations of humans -  isolation due to a pandemic or isolation due to military occupation. It is also important for us to show what legacy we will leave behind globally, ecologically and civilizationally. What stories will the left artifacts tell? Will it be the space debris,  fragments of artillery shells, things of our construction, clothing, or works of art?..

But the Garden is also an image of the victory of life over death, nature and growth, the eternal movement to the light. After all, even if we find ourselves in a bare and silent Garden in winter, we know that in spring it will definitely bloom. It will abound in life and voices. This metaphor is the basis of silent objects, each of which is able to come to life with the help of sound.

The design of the main space will be developed by Bohdan Polishchuk, the scenographer and curator of the pavilion.

The curator of the sound solution will be Yana Shlyabanska, one of the most progressive Ukrainian sound designers. In the space we will present the works of 12 most active and interesting Ukrainian scenographers of different generations and regions of Ukraine.