Join a virtual symposium on the reconstruction of Ukraine organized by Yale, University College London, and others
A consortium of co-organizing institutions— the Centre for Urban History in Lviv, Urban Forms Center in Kharkiv, Kyiv Biennial/The Visual Culture Research Center, ReStart Ukraine, University College London, the Center for Urban Studies at Kyiv National University of Construction and Architecture, and Yale University among them—have announced a forthcoming virtual symposium that will discuss the ongoing conflict in Ukraine with a focus on reconstruction not only in the architectural and infrastructural sense but also with regard to the rebuilding of “institutions, social bonds, individual and collective bodies and minds.”
Entitled The Reconstruction of Ukraine: Ruination / Representation / Solidarity: A Symposium of Ideas and Strategies, the symposium will take place over the span of three days, beginning on September 9 and concluding September 11.
As of this writing, more than 40 participants including historians, artists, architects, economists, and on will convene for a series of roundtable discussions on topics ranging from housing, historical preservation, master planning, the economic and political challenges of reconstruction and on, according to a press announcement. While a majority of the participants will be Ukrainian, most planned panels will also include “non-Ukrainian experts, theorists, or practitioners who are able to situate the Ukrainian experience within diverse temporal and geographic contexts,” the organizers explained.
Sample discussions include Heritage: Destruction, Salvage & Legacy, War and the Arts of Witness, and the concluding panel, Building Initiatives for the Future.
Streamed and recorded on YouTube, the event will be presented in English with simultaneous translation into Ukrainian. Edited transcripts will be compiled and published as an open-access book, which will ultimately be downloadable.
Supported by the the Fund of the President of Ukraine for Education, Science and Sport, sponsoring institutions of The Reconstruction of Ukraine: Ruination / Representation / Solidarity are the Yale MacMillan Centre, the Yale Office of International Affairs, UCL Office for Global Engagement, UCL Bartlett School of Architecture, The FRINGE Centre, and the UCL School of Slavonic and East European Studies
More information, including a day-by-day program rundown with featured panelists, a full roster of organizers and co-organizing institutions, and registration information, can be found here. The Reconstruction of Ukraine: Ruination / Representation / Solidarity site has also shared ways that you can support various grassroots rebuilding initiatives on the ground in Ukraine.
