[oberlist] Survivor’s Syndrome in Kiev: the Hudrada curatorial collective built a shanty hut on Mihailovska Plosha (St Michael’s Square)

[Yevgenia Belorusets]

*Survivor’**s **Syndrome* *in **Kiev: **the **Hudrada **curatorial **collective
**built **a **shanty **hut **on **Mihailovska **Plosha (**St **Michael’**s *
*Square)*



*On* *the** 18**th* *of* *May** 2018 **on* *the* *anniversary* *of* *the*
*deportation* *of* *the* *Crimean* *Tatars* *and* *one* *of* *the*
*Ukrainian** “**Europe* *Days**” **the Hudrada curatorial collective
gathered at Kiev’s historic St Michael’s Square to build the shell of a
ruined hut from a Roma settlement which had formerly stood in the city**. *
*This* *work* *became* *a* *symbol* *for* *the* *shared* *fates* *of*
*different* *ethnic* *and* *social* *groups* *who* *found* *themselves*
*subjected* *to* *repressive* *actions* *in* *Ukraine. It was also a public
protest against pogroms of Roma settlements.*



On a Friday afternoon, the Hudrada curatorial group working together with
architects and human rights activists initiated the collective building of
a shanty hut. This anarchitectural construction was built according to the
template of a ruined hovel that had been torn down in 2017 during the
destruction of a temporary Roma settlement in Kyiv’s Dnepr district.



This work by Hudrada was dedicated to anarchitectural forms and to societies
who create shanty huts in urban spaces, but above all it was a declaration
against xenophobia and acts of aggression triggered by it.









In this example, the shanty hut embodies the vulnerability and fragility of
communities who arrive and disappear spontaneously. At the same time it can
become a disquieting object when set against the logic of the majesty of
monumental symbols of power.



Survivor’s Syndrome is a term which emerged in the 1960s as a means of
describing the condition of both victims and executioners (as well as their
children) who had lived through large scale persecutions and mass murders
during the 20th century. The defining element of this syndrome is that its
sufferers experience sharp feelings of guilt connected to no more than the
fact that they are alive and in existence.



The name chosen for this work by Hudrada points to the presumption that the
single hut we’ve rebuilt (who magically knows about the destruction of his
remaining brothers) suffers from this syndrome.



 “The Survivor Syndrome” – is a reminder too of the fact that throughout
the 20th Century right across Ukraine, all kinds of social and ethnic
groups have found themselves subject to repression. Our goal today is to
keep these pages of history where they belong, in the past.









Further Information:



On how representatives of radical right-wing organisations attempted to
disrupt the event can be read in a public Facebook post by Hudrada
curatorial collective member Yevgenia Belorusets here (in Russian):
https://www.facebook.com/yevgeniabelorusets/posts/10214883102764063





*Event* *partners**:*

Prostory magazine www.prostory.net.ua / with support from the Ministry of
Foreign Affairs of the Federal Republic of Germany

Method Fund https://sites.google.com/site/methodfund/metod-fond-method-fund

Eastern Rights Group http://www.vpg.net.ua/news/

Critical Design Studio 12345678910





*Union* *of* *Hovels* – is a long term project by the curatorial group
Hudrada devoted to developing the idea of Anarchitecture. The first
instalment of Union of Hovels too place on the Venice Lido during the 55th
Venice Biennale.



The basis of the project “Union of Hovels: the Survivor Syndrome” is
photographic documentation of a ruined Roma settlement made by Yevgenia
Belorusets.


The author of the architectural project is Dana Kosmina.




*Hudrada *is a Ukrainian curatorial group and experimental platform for
interdisciplinary collaboration. Its members include artists, architects,
critics and writers.



*Contact information*: prostoryred at gmail.com



 --
Yevgenia Belorusets
www.belorusets.com
-------------------------
hudrada.tumblr.com
www.prostory.net.ua
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