Art under Siege: In Conversation with Mykhailo Glubokyi
- Constance Uzwyshyn
- Nov 22, 2022
- 10 min read
Updated: Mar 11
Three Stories of Art and War II
коли гуркочуть гармати- музи замовкають
The Russian invasion catapulted the Ukrainian art world into crisis, and desperate measures were undertaken to secure staff, collections, and artists. Dreams are deferred but stubborn resilience manifests as a desire to not only protect cultural heritage, but also somehow provide opportunities for continued creativity. Three institutions from all regions of Ukraine—Central, East, and West—reflect on their current challenges, on how they are coping, and what might be in store for the future. When cannons roar, the muses will not fall silent.
Mykhailo Glubokyi, an IT specialist from Kharkiv, Ukraine, is the Communications Director for Izolyatsia/iZone and a board member of Trans Europe Halles, a Europe-based network of cultural centres at the forefront of repurposing industrial buildings for arts, culture, and activism. Izolyatsia is a nongovernmental and non-profit platform for contemporary art. It was founded in 2010 in a former insulation materials factory in Donetsk and on 9 June 2014 the territory was seized by Russian Federation militants and is now used as a prison camp and torture chamber. Izolyatsia subsequently relocated to Kyiv to a shipyard warehouse where it continued its programme as both a centre for international creative industries and Ukrainian cultural activities. On 24 March 2022, Izolyatsia in Kyiv was forced to close due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
This interview was conducted on 14 April 2022.
Constance Uzwyshyn, for CJLPA: Izolyatsia in Donetsk, what is going on with the Donetsk Izolyatsia building now?
Mykhailo Glubokyi: It is a prison.[1] Unfortunately, it remains held by Russians. Stanislav Aseyev,[2] who was released, has started looking furiously for people who imprisoned him. He managed to identify a couple of Russians who worked at the prison. As soon as they became public, they disappeared. It is not possible to understand who is behind this now and what happened to these people. Unfortunately, nothing has changed with this place. Now we have received reports that in newly occupied places, like Kherson, they are doing something similar there—building illegal prisons, holding people, torturing people, persecuting people. Unfortunately, this model is considered successful and is duplicated.
