Art and War in Ukraine: Postcolonial Retrieval, Anti-colonial Struggle, and Decolonial Release
When:
Wednesday, February 26, 2025
4:00 PM - 5:30 PM CT
Where: Scott Hall, Room 212, 601 University Place, Evanston, IL 60208 map it
Audience: Faculty/Staff - Student - Public - Post Docs/Docs - Graduate Students
Contact:
Cindy Pingry
(847) 467-1933
Group: Russian, Eurasian, and East European Studies (REEES) Research Program
Co-Sponsor:
Department of Art History
Category: Academic, Lectures & Meetings, Global & Civic Engagement
Description:
Please join the Russian, Eurasian, and East European Studies Program and the Department of Art History as they co-sponsor a double book talk by art historian Dr. Svitlana Biedarieva. There will be a reception to follow this event.
Dr. Svitlana Biedarieva will present two new books:
• her edited volume Art in Ukraine Between Identity Construction and Anti-Colonial Resistance (Routledge 2024)
• her immediately forthcoming monograph Ambicoloniality and War: The Ukrainian‑Russian Case (Palgrave Macmillan, March 15, 2025)
Art in Ukraine Between Identity Construction and Anti-Colonial Resistance traces the development of art practices in Ukraine from the 2004 Orange Revolution, through the 2013–2014 Revolution of Dignity, to the ongoing Russian war of aggression, exploring transformations of identity, the emergence of participatory democracy, changes to cultural institutions, and the necessity of decolonial release.
Ambicoloniality and War: The Ukrainian-Russian Case introduces the concept of “ambicoloniality” to address the current situation in which Ukraine has become Russia’s territory of obsession, while Russia, in its desire to occupy Ukraine, has paradoxically subjected itself to Ukraine’s symbolic dominance. The Ukrainian-Russian case differs significantly from the examples addressed by both postcolonial and decolonial theorists.