Office Ukraine Graz
Autumn 2024 for Office Ukraine Graz: Taking a Look Back
Prepared by: Maria Kardash & Stephanie Sackl
At the start of a new winter season (and the New Year!) we would like to look back on the projects and events that took place in Graz this autumn. Join us on this reflection journey and read our newsletter!
UKRAINIAN CHARITY ART MARKET
In early September 2024, Office Ukraine Graz and ZIEGEL. Art atelier & project space participated in the Ukrainian Charity Art Market organized by Ridna Domivka, the Ukrainian cultural association in Graz.
In addition to the artworks for sale, the Ukrainian art-community offered a unique opportunity at the market: a Ukrainian language workshop by Mariya Donska, a university assistant at the Department of Slavic Studies at the University of Graz. In 2022, Mariya organized the first Ukrainian language course for beginners in Graz and currently conducts regular Ukrainian classes at the university.
“It is always gratifying when people who knew nothing about the Ukrainian language get excited about learning it,” says Mariya. Even in a brief workshop, her students achieve their initial successes: engaging in small talk in Ukrainian, singing popular songs like the Eurovision hit “Stefania”, and, taking on the challenge of learning a new alphabet. Jokes aside, for Mariya, it is really important to demonstrate that Ukrainian language can be fun and easy to learn, even for those unfamiliar with Cyrillic. Mariya’s workshop at the market was truly lively and entertaining, attracting not only non-Ukrainian attendees but also many Ukrainians who gathered to observe Mariya’s teaching process and support the participants in mastering the nuances of the Ukrainian language.

Mariya Donska teaching Ukrainian language workshop at the Ukrainian Charity Art Market. © Ridna Domivka website
ΔIA KINETS
The exhibition “Δia Kinets” was brought to the ZIEGEL Art atelier & project space in September 2024 by the Ukrainian artist and curator Eva Holts. The story behind this project is quite fascinating: while visiting her school, destroyed by Russian bombs in Chernihiv, Eva has found some old Soviet-time films in the debris. She then distributed her findings among 19 Ukrainian artists, each of whom offered their artistic interpretation of the films, whether it was a reflection on the content (Soviet educational materials) or pure exploration of camera rolls as physical objects.
From Eva’s words, this exhibition is an attempt to prolong the memory of something that does not exist in this world anymore – as her destroyed school. It’s also a chance for the audience to touch (quite literally – as many displayed artefacts are interactive) a scary but still very personal story, multiplied in different artistic voices. Every single artist’s story deals quite intimate matters and in this way manages to creatively deconstruct and reconsider Soviet educational propaganda found on the diapositive films.
Besides Graz, “Δia Kinets” has been already shown in Germany (Munich) and Slovakia (Trnava), and now the artworks have travelled back to Ukraine in order to be displayed in Kyiv and Kharkiv.

Eva Holts, curator of the “Δia Kinets” exhibition © ZIEGEL Instagram
I SHE HER
On the 29 and 30 of September, Theatre am Lend in Graz featured already the second showcase of the “I SHE HER” performance after the June premiere. Born through the multidisciplinary collaboration of Kharkiv artists in Graz, this piece brings to the forefront stories of Ukrainian women on different stages of life: childhood, youth, motherhood and maturity.
Ukrainian performer Vladyslava Chentsova initiated the production already in 2023, involving not only the stage actresses (Olena Bazhenova, Kateryna Lyubchenko, Yulia Linnik) but also a visual artist Margo Sarkisova, who created four unique puppets for the show. They truly became the show highlight: one of the puppets, four meters tall, even got the nickname “Mother” among the performers. The preparation also included documentary work: all the stories presented on stage were based on the real experiences of Ukrainian women that performers have been in touch with (or even on performers’ own stories). For Vladyslava, it is extremely important to create space for those stories in the theater as she finds the subtle threads intertwining different women’s experiences and shares them with the audience. She also thinks that for artists residing in different countries (Austria, Poland and Ukraine) this production turned into a chance to revive a part of their previous lives when they all worked together in the independent theatre Nafta in Kharkiv.
On her side, Margo thinks of their work as universal and able to speak to an international public by depicting relatable events in women’s lives, from giving birth to surviving domestic violence. But with special fondness she recalls the Ukrainian tour – after the September showcase in Graz, “I She Her” travelled to Kyiv, Kharkiv and Lviv, where it drew multiple cheers from the local audiences.

Performance “I She Her” at Theater am Lend, Graz © Mariya Donska
WEAVING
This project draws its name from the metaphorical “weaving” of the network embracing Ukrainian self-organised art spaces – a process that curators Nastia Khlestova and Anton Tkachenko have been engaged in since the start of the full-scale Russian invasion in Ukraine. In October-November 2024, the exhibition “Weaving” at ZIEGEL. Art atelier & project space hosts a collection of artefacts that emerged through collaboration between different Ukrainian self-organised art spaces. Each of those spaces sent to Graz a particular artwork representing their community. As most of the participants were not aware what others were going to send, for Anton it’s been interesting to observe the unexpected correlations and explore how art objects complement each other. In her turn, Nastia shares that this exhibition became for her very personal, as it dealt with the topic she has been working with for years now – the topic of self-organization. Both of the curators agree on the importance of community in all aspects of life, and believe that small-scale organisations will always win from expanding their network and collaborating with each other.

Audience at the “Weaving” exhibition © ZIEGEL