“Dissonance Heritage”: presentation of the art residency project
The international art residency brought together Ukrainian and Austrian artists to work with themes of cultural heritage, memory, forced absence, the loss of home and the reconsideration of identity in the context of war.
The programme involved Ukrainian interdisciplinary artist Daria Lytvynenko, Austrian artist and scenographer Jürgen Münzer, and Ukrainian choreographer and performer Maria Shurkhal. The project was curated by Daria Kuzmych. Combining performance, movement, installation, sculpture, sound and personal archives, the participants explored how art can address traumatic experiences, contested heritage and connections with places that remain physically inaccessible.
An important stage of the residency was the presentation “Dissonance Heritage,” held in Kyiv on 5 August. Its programme brought together an exhibition, a public discussion and a performance by Clemens Poole and Daria Lytvynenko. The event not only presented the results of the participants’ artistic research but also invited audiences to consider how we engage with a heritage that encompasses memory, trauma, colonial legacies and the potential for future renewal.
Crimea occupies a central place in Daria Lytvynenko’s artistic practice. Born in Yalta and currently based in Vienna, she works at the intersection of performance, visual art and collective practices. Her projects examine how geopolitical aggression, militarisation and loss affect human identities, ecosystems and landscapes.
One strand of this research is the interdisciplinary project “The Salty Juice of a Ripe Fig.” Combining physical theatre, pantomime, installation, original sound and poetic film, it explores the historical, cultural and familial heritage of the Crimean Peninsula. The Black Sea appears not simply as a setting, but as a living and constantly changing organism — a witness to history, a carrier of intergenerational memory and an essential part of Crimean identity that challenges colonial and Russian propaganda narratives.
The “YOU ARE MISSING HERE” programme became more than a space for developing new artworks. It also helped establish long-term connections between the Ukrainian and Austrian cultural scenes. During Russia’s full-scale war against Ukraine, such formats are particularly important: they ensure that Ukrainian voices remain visible internationally, support the professional mobility of artists and make it possible to reflect collectively on experiences that cannot be communicated through facts and chronology alone.
The residency was realised with the support of the Austrian Federal Ministry for Housing, Arts, Culture, Media and Sport, Austrian Cooperation Office in Lviv and Ukraine Office Austria. For our Cooperation Office, supporting such initiatives forms part of their continued work to strengthen Austrian-Ukrainian cultural cooperation, develop new professional partnerships and ensure the international presence of Ukrainian art.
Picture were provided by the organizers.
