Iryna Baltaziuk

The National Academy of Fine Arts and Architecture (Kyiv, Ukraine)

CV: Iryna Baltaziuk (*1987, Ukraine). Artist, curator and art historian. Since 2018 she has been working on her PhD thesis at the National Academy of Fine Arts and Architecture. Field of research – symbols of Ukrainian painting at the turn of the XX and XXI centuries. As a public figure, she founded the NGO “Art research platform MOKONSHU”, whose goal is to support Ukrainian artists. She is author of the international art project “#365daysafter”, that was designed to explore the art of the pandemic period in Ukraine, Croatia, Portugal and China. Stories of artists from different local contexts were collected within the project. Her idea of creating a “Library of artist`s stories” as an independent project won a third place in the Falling Walls Lab Ukraine competition of innovations.

Presentation title: The transit zone of the pandemic

Abstract: “The transit zone of the pandemic” is designed to analyse the preconditions for maintaining creative independence in the pandemic period. The research was conducted during the international art project “# 365daysafter”, which aimed to collect stories and voices of artists from four local contexts, analytically study art during the pandemic in Ukraine and around the world. The growing negative impact of social restrictions has prompted the search for ways to break down the walls of isolation and create a virtual “Library of Artist’s stories”. The text of the field study on the limitations of social activity during the pandemic contains stories about the experience of artists from different countries on ways to cope with obstacles, effective examples of successful overcoming the crisis. Analysis of examples of finding effective methods and ways not to lose creative activity in the face of local and international constraints on social life and communication.