DOCOMOMO International is pleased share the invitation to a hybrid conference Heritage International Protection in Wartime:
the Case of Ukraine to be held on June 23rd, 17:30 – 19:00 at Sciences Po Paris (Paris School of International Affairs), with the collaboration of UNESCO, and devoted to Heritage International Protection in Ukraine.

Full invitation and registration links for attendance follow below:

As the war in Ukraine drags on, this event will address political and urban dimensions of heritage protection through a discussion with the leading Ukrainian architect and scholar, co-founder of the Urban Forms Center in Kharkiv, Ievgeniia Gubkina, and the Director of the Culture and Emergencies entity at UNESCO, Krista Pikkat.

After the Euro Maidan revolution in 2014, Ukraine has become a beacon for grass-roots experiments in Soviet heritage conservation. NGOs, artists and heritage interpreters are all involved, and a nation-wide discussion about architecture as vehicle for debating conflicting memories, nationhood, citizenship, corruption and new arts forms is unfolding. Ukrainian modernist interpreters were among the most active internationally on social media and have been releasing books with major international publishers. Modernist buildings became popular places for both domestic and international artists to create, for local counterculture to flourish, and for grass-root democratisation and Europeanisation to advance.

Ievgeniia Gubkina will introduce the cultural and political significance of (pre-war) Ukraine with regard to 20th Century heritage. A short experimental film on constructivist and modernist heritage in Kharkiv will be screened to illustrate her lecture. Krista Pikkat will review the protection efforts deployed by UNESCO in Ukraine, as well as those used during armed conflicts more broadly.

Dean Arancha Gonzalez of PSIA and Dean Tommaso Vitale of the Urban School will offer short remarks. The discussion will be moderated by Maxime Forest, Senior Researcher at Sciences Po-OFCE and Lecturer at PSIA and Urban School.

This event is co-organized by PSIA and the Urban School.

Ievgeniia Gubkina is an architect, architectural historian, curator of architectural and art projects. Faced with the lack of pluridisciplinary approaches to heritage conservation and contemporary challenges posed to post-soviet cities, she co-founded the NGO Urban Forms Center in Kharkiv, in the context of the democratization and Europeanization process engaged in 2014. She is currently research associate at Sciences Po Urban School, hosted with the support of the PAUSE program.

Date: Thursday 23 June 2022, 17h30 – 19h00

Location: Amphi Simone Veil, 28 rue des Saints-Pères

To attend the event at Sciences Po: please register here
To follow the event remotely: please register here

SPEAKERS

Ievgeniia Gubkina
Co-founder of the NGO Urban Forms Center in Kharkiv, Ukraine

Krista Pikkat
Director of Culture and Emergencies entity of UNESCO

Maxime Forest
Senior Researcher at Sciences Po-OFCE and Lecturer at PSIA and Urban School