Focus topic

Roots of Modernism in Ukraine

The images of the war in Ukraine and the comprehensive suffering of the people on the ground are staggering. There is also no end to the destruction of cities, buildings and cultural assets. For this reason, on the second day of the Berlin Opening event, there will be a thematic focus on the roots and the situation of Modernism in Ukraine, using the example of the cities of Kharkiv and Lviv and their architectural heritage from different periods of Modernism . Within the Berlin festival period until the end of December, a five-part exhibition series on the topic will be on display at Ernst-Reuter-Platz.

Derzhprom ensemble at Freedom Square in Kharkiv, Ukraine
Derzhprom ensemble at Freedom Square in Kharkiv by night, photo: Ben Buschfeld, 2017.

Modernism in Ukraine

Modern Roots and Heritage of Kharkiv and Lviv

Total run time: Sat, Oct. 1-Dec. 16, 2022, 12 p.m.-8 p.m.;
Main venue: BHROX bauhaus reuse, Ernst-Reuter-Platz center island.

The Special Focus - on the Opening event and on the Triennial of Modernism 2022 focuses on the roots and heritage of Modernism in Ukraine, for a trans-European consideration of the historical references and protagonists as well as the question of the current state in the face of the war of aggression on Ukraine and the opportunities and challenges for future European cooperation. A five-part exhibition series at BHROX bauhaus reuse, with four parts in the pavilion on Ernst-Reuter-Platz (central island) and one part in the architecture building of the TU Berlin, shows buildings and contexts in Kharkiv and Lviv from the interwar period to postmodernism.

At the end of the Special Focus, the release event for special issue "Modern Movement in Ukraine" of Docomomo Journal and a workshop talk on Modernism in Ukraine will take place.

The exhibition series forms the Opening for a series of transnational collaborations that are to be further expanded in subsequent years as part of the initiative for a "European Triennial of Modernism (ETOM)" with changing partners and within the "Strategic Triangle for Modernism" founded jointly with DOCOMO International and ICOMOS.


Exhibitions

Modern Roots and Heritage of Kharkiv and Lviv

Total run time: Sat, Oct 1 - Dec 16, 2022, 12:00 - 20:00:
The five-part exhibition series, beginning on the second day of the Opening event, features buildings and contexts in Kharkiv and Lviv from the interwar period to postmodernism Location: BHROX bauhaus reuse (on the central island of Ernst-Reuter-Platz).


The event is divided into five exhibition parts

  • Part #1 (Duration 2.10.2022 - 21.10.2022)
    Sat, 1.10., 19:45: Vernissage Photo Exhibition
    Lviv Modernism: Let buildings speak.
    Visual story of Lviv modern housing architecture
    Partner*in: Lviv Centre for Urban History (LCUH); Author*in / Photographer*in: Myroslava Liakhovych Myroslava Liakhovych (associated researcher at the Center for Urban History, Lviv / currently at ETH Zurich - Institute for History and Theory of Architecture); Date: Opening on 01 October, 19:30, at BHROX, as an evening program of the second day of the kick-off event of the Triennial of Modernism 2022
  • Part #2 (Duration 28.10. - 9.11.2022)
    Thu, 27.10. , 19:30: Vernissage photo exhibition
    City, Architecture, Modernism -
    Public buildings of the interwar period in Lviv
    Partner*in: International Cultural Centre (ICC), Krakow in cooperation with Museum of Architecture in Wrocław (MAW); Author*in / Photographer*in: Michal Wisniewski (ICC), Żanna Komar (MAW), Andrzej Szczerski (MAW), Pawel Mazur (Photography); Location: BHROX bauhaus reuse
  • Part #3 (Duration 14.11. - 24.11.2022)
    Sun, 13.11., from 18:00: Opening panel exhibition
    The Modernism in Lviv and the contribution of Jewish architects*.
    Ferdynand Kassler - inventor of the Galician Modernism
    Partner*in: Lviv Polytechnic National University Author*in / Photographer*in: Bohdan Cherkes in cooperation with Yulia Bohdanova and Igor Kopyliak; Place from 20:00: TU Architecture Building
  • Part #4 (running 11/14 - 11/24/2022)
    Sun, 11/13, from 18:00 Opening panel exhibition
    Svoboda (Freedom) Square Ensemble in Kharkiv [*]
    Partner*in / Author*in: Svitlana Smolenska (associate researcher at the Kharkiv School of Architecture, Technical University of Berlin and the OWL Technical University, ICOMOS Ukraine); Location: BHROX bauhaus reuse
  • Part #5 (Duration: Mon, 11/28 - 12/16/2022, 12:00-20:00)
    Ukrainian Socialist Postmodernism
    Partner*in: Urban Forms Center (UFC), Kharkiv Author*in / Photographer*in: Ievgeniia Gubkina and Pavlo Dorogoy (photography); Location: BHROX bauhaus reuse

Sat, 10/1/2022, 13:00-15:00

Presentations on the second day of the Opening event

Location: TU Berlin, Architecture Building, Straße der 17. Juni 152, Forum
(ground floor foyer, to the right of the elevators)

  • Myroslava Liakhovych
    (affiliated researcher at Centre for Urban History, Lviv / presently at ETH Zurich - Institute for History and Theory of Architecture)
  • Svitlana Smolenska [*]
    (affiliate researcher at Kharkiv School of Architecture, Technical University of Berlin and OWL University of Applied Sciences and Arts): The Freedom Square in Kharkiv 
  • Bohdan Cherkes
    (Lviv Polytechnic National University): The Modernism in Lviv and the contribution of Jewish architects*. Ferdynand Kassler - Inventor of the Galician Modernism 
  • Ievgeniia Gubkina
    (Urban Forms Center, Kharkiv): Flaming Ukrainian Socialist Postmodernism 

Moderation and Section Hosts: Uta Pottgiesser (DOCOMOMO International), Riin Alatalu (ICOMOS International) & Tino Mager (ICOMOS Germany) & Robert K. Huber / Ben Buschfeld 

Cooperation partners

  • ICOMOS International
  • DOCOMOMO International
  • BMWSB - Federal Ministry of Housing,
    Urban Development and Construction

Organization and curation

  • BHROX bauhaus reuse / zukunftsgeraeusche GbR -Curation and coordination: Robert K. Huber, Production: Peter Winter
  • In coordination and co-curation with:
    Ben Buschfeld, buschfeld.com -
    graphic and interface design

Project framework

  • a project as part of the "European Triennial of Modernism (ETOM)" initiative

in collaboration with:

  • Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf district
  • Centre for Urban History, Lviv (CUH)
  • International Cultural Centre Krakow with Museum of Architecture Wrocław
  • Lviv Polytechnic National University
  • Kharkiv School of Architecture
  • Urban Forms Center Kharkiv
  • Kharkiv National University of Civil Engineering and Architecture
  • Society for the Study of the Lives and Work of German-speaking Jewish Architects
  • IfA - TU Berlin
  • Federal Institute for Culture and History of the Germans in Eastern Europe
  • House of Arts Brno
Part #1: Lviv , Ukraine: villa colony "Nad Zaliznoju vodoju colony", Photo: Myroslava Liakhovych
Part #2: Lviv , Ukraine: The Jonasz Sprecher Office Building, 1928-29, architect: Ferdynand Kassler; photo: Pawel Mazur, ICC-Krakow
Part #4: Ukraine, Kharkiv: Svoboda/Freedom Square, Derzhprom, aerial view 1934
Part #5: Ukraine, Kyiv: Vernadsky National Library of Ukraine © Photo: Pavlo Dorogoy 2022

Sponsored by the German Federal Ministry
for Housing, Urban Development and Building (BMWSB).

[The work of Svitlana Smolenska was supported by the Volkswagen Foundation.

The Special Focus - Modernism in Ukraine is presented in cooperation of
Triennial of Modernism with Docomomo International and ICOMOS.