On June 24, 2019, at 7 PM, IZOLYATSIA presents a public talk by Mykhailo Glubokyi ’10 Years of Cultural Conversion’. This event is part of the Donbas Studies Summer School project. Mykhailo Glubokyi will reflect on the history and growth of the platform in the past ten years.

Origins of IZOLYATSIA go back to an international conference Cultural Conversion: A New Life of the Industrial Past, which was held on the 25th of September, 2010 in Donetsk. Different experts in cultural projects that deal with the revival of former industrial zones were invited to share their experiences. At the time IZOLYATSIA summarized the discussions that took place at the conference with this statement, which still holds true: ‘The creation of art-platforms on former industrial territories does not necessarily present a panacea for all social and economic evils’.

However, in most instances, it serves as a trigger for a new stage in the development of social spaces and a source of inspiration for overcoming periods of crisis’ Today, IZOLYATSIA foundation is a unique cultural institution with a multidisciplinary programme that both reflects its regional history and appeals to the wider Ukrainian and global context. Since IZOLYATSIA’s exile from Donetsk more than 4 years ago, the platform has become an example of cultural decentralisation, running numerous projects and starting discourses which are otherwise suppressed in public life. While reducing the number of exhibitions in Kyiv, the platform increases its participation in international and regional research projects, residencies and mobility programmes. At the same time, the IZONE Creative Community, an IZOLYATSIA project in Kyiv, which exists as an independent cultural hub, continues to support representatives of creative industries and agents of change from all over Ukraine.

Mykhailo Glubokyi will talk about different strategies and approaches engaged by the institution in the last 10 years. A special focus of the talk is the rehabilitation of former industrial areas (cases of Donetsk and Kyiv). The talk will also discuss some of IZOLYATSIA’s principles: the open nature of foundation’s projects, their socially inclined character, their innovative approach towards creativity and culture in the lives of communities, and a willingness to develop a local cultural environment. Mykhailo Glubokyi is a development and communication director at IZOLYATSIA and has been working with the foundation since 2011.

Address:
IZONE, Naberezhno-Lugova Street 8
Research Room, 4th floor