From Soil to Solidarity

September 13st

nGbK am Alex, Berlin

Antiwarcoalition.art

From Soil to Solidarity is a discursive and performative program exploring themes of interconnectivity and colonial influence through the lens of plant cultivation and food practices, focusing on the context of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Drawing on Paul Virilio’s idea of an accident in which the system of infrastructures and colonial dependencies is illuminated and made more tangible through catastrophe, the project proposes to shift its gaze to Kharkiv — the place where fierce bombings are now taking place and its inhabitants are being annihilated.

Bridging, as a gesture of solidarity, Kharkiv and Berlin, the event forms a unique network highlighting our interdependencies and colonial subjection through daily practices related to soil and plants. Enhancing the thematic depth and geographical reach of the event, a live broadcast of the exhibition „Sense of Safety“ from Kharkiv, Ukraine will run throughout the programme. It acts as a powerful gesture of solidarity with those on the frontline of the full-scale invasion today, pulling Berlin into Kharkiv and Kharkiv into Berlin, symbolizing an unbroken chain of support and shared experiences.

The workshop „The Cartography of Home Plants as the Cultural Capital of Childhood Memories“ offers engaged research practice on the influence of colonialism on plant cultivation and how it reflects broader societal differences.

Natasha Chychasova’s talk „Millions of Roses for Nobody“ discusses the transformative impact of industrialization on natural landscapes and how war has further altered these terrains, turning potential growth into desolation.

Following this, tony lashden’s speech „Grandma’s Gurki: Home Seedlings and Food Security in Belarus“ examines the role of cucumbers, exploring how food security can act as both a colonial instrument and a decolonial response.

This event is implemented in cooperation between nGbk and antiwarcoalition.art in frames of Berlin Art Week and Bridges of Solidarity program. The Bridges of Solidarity involves more than 20 both well established and grassroot partner institutions (ZKM, Karlsruhe, nGbK, Berlin, Arsenal Gallery in Białystok, Roma Community Center in Warsaw, Bouillon Group in Tbilisi, Georgia, Cobra Museum, Amstelveen, the Netherlands etc.).

Designed to act as bridges, the series of events facilitates two-way interaction and connection between the international community and Kharkiv. These events aim to foster solidarity and mutual support.

Participants: Natasha Chychasova, tony lashden, Antonina Stebur, Taras Gembik & Marie Manushka

Program

17:00-19:00

The Cartography of Home Plants as the Cultural Capital of Childhood Memories

Workshop by Taras Gembik & Marie Manushka

This event will explore the intricate history of home plants, delving into how they shaped childhood memories across different social classes and building our contemporary identities. Discover the middle-class affinity for violets, the upper-class preference for orchids, and the popular home plants during the USSR era. We will also discuss the influence of colonialism on plant cultivation and how it reflects broader societal differences.

Marie Manushka is a cultural worker based in Warsaw, originally from Belarus. She is the founder of the Belarusian book club „Spatkajmesia,“ which fosters an international literature community. Marie showcased Belarusian culture through diverse events and lectures at the Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw. Currently, she is expanding her expertise in colonial and decolonial practices through the „Mycelium“ decolonial lab and developing a feminist decolonial project with Belarusian female artists.

Taras Gembik is the Head of Roma Community Centre Development cultural worker, activist. He cooperates with the Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw since 2018. Together with Maria Beburia, he co-founded the BLYZKIST (“closeness”) collective, which focuses on creating a multi-level community of people with experience of migration and in a homeless crisis. Since the beginning of Russia’s full invasion of Ukraine, he has been co-creating the „Sunflower” Solidarity Community Center at MSN Warsaw.

19:30-20:00

Natasha Chychasova: Millions of Roses for Nobody

This is a story about landscape changes. It is about how industrial giants rose up in the Wild fields, taking deep roots in the soil and determining the future history of this place. It is about how, as a consequence of the war, something that was supposed to bloom becomes a ghost.

Natasha Chychasova is a curator and researcher from Donetsk, based in Kyiv. She works on post-Soviet legacy strategies for its deconstruction, feminist art practices. She is Head of the Contemporary Art Department at Mystetskyi Arsenal, one of the largest cultural institutions in Ukraine. Her curatorial projects include: This is not a Museum, this is a Plant (Dnipro, Ukraine, 2020), Non-Human trilogy (Kyiv, Ukraine, 2020); Ukraine Ablaze platform (2022), Heart of Earth (2022), Forms of Presence (2023).

20:00-20:30

tony lashden: Grandma’s Gurki: Home Seedlings and Food Security in Belarus

This input will be focused on cucumbers and specially on two instances of growing and utilising cucumbers in Belarus as a home seedling and an industrial vegetable which they are currently investigating for the upcoming novel. Using an example of Ashmyany village and its industrialised way of cultivating cucumbers, in the lecture we will discuss how food/food security became an area of colonial expansion and how home-based relations of care grow to bridge the security gap.

tony lashden (they) is a queer feminist Belarusian writer, activist, and community organiser whose creative literary work focuses on the topics of colonial dependencies, forced migration, and queer precarity. Building on their own experience of marginalisation, tony designs and facilitates spaces that center voices of historically excluded communities in Eastern Europe.

20:30-21:00

Discussion between Natasha Chychasova and tony lashden

moderated by Antonina Stebur

17:00–21:00

Live broadcast of the exhibition “Sense of Safety” from Kharkiv, Ukraine

The exhibition “Sense of Safety” in the YermilovCentre (Kharkiv, Ukraine) is featuring works from 32 individual artists and collectives representing over 10 countries, including a significant percentage of new commissions. The exhibition is built around the ambivalence of the concept of safety, which has been profoundly redefined by the war.

From Soil to Solidarity is a cooperation between antiwarcoalition.art, neue Gesellschaft für bildende Kunst (nGbK) and YermilovCentre.

Supported by Goethe-Institute Ukraine and Nürnberger Haus, Nordic Council of Ministers Office in Lithuania.

Partner of Berlin Art Week.

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