Ukraine is an important focus point at the Frankfurter Buchmesse 2022 which will be held on October 19-23 in Frankfurt am Main.
Ukrainian voices will be heard on several platforms of the fair: the Ukrainian National Stand, the Mystetskyi Arsenal stand, Pictoric stand, and ist publishing stand.
The Mystetskyi Arsenal will present its stand (Hall 4.0 H 94) under the slogan “Arsenal of Books & Arts & Resilience”. The visual concept of the stand reflects the reality of the war, “Ukrainian art under the gun”. At the Mystetskyi Arsenal stand, visitors will have an opportunity to learn more about the history of the Mystetskyi Arsenal and the International Book Arsenal Festival, to look through the editions to the exhibitions that were held at the Mystetskyi Arsenal, as well as to see animated works from the Mystetskyi Arsenal museum collection. In this way, visitors will be able to acquaint themselves with the key phenomena and figures of Ukrainian art. The visual component of the stand was created by Alla Sorochan and Kostya Martsenkivsky, a team of designers at the Mystetskyi Arsenal.
Speaking about Ukrainian culture, its people and institutions today is perhaps the most exciting story that we can share with the world. How exactly are all these things keeping up nowadays? What historical experience, what figures, what hopes, what feelings are behind the already famous Ukrainian resilience right now? What does Ukrainian art say about this? And what is it like to be under the gun every day? Somewhat melodramatic, but when is melodrama appropriate if not in times when the millstones of history are grinding right in front of your eyes? This is what the Arsenal stand and its program will be about
says Olesia Ostrovska-Liuta, Director General of the Mystetskyi Arsenal.
- On October 21, at 12:00, the discussion “Kulturpolitik in Kriegszeiten” will be held at the Frankfurt Pavillion.
Powerful voices from the cultural sphere will come together to discuss how the destruction of cultural heritage and the war have changed the whole agenda of cultural institutions.
The participants are Olesia Ostrovska-Liuta, Director General of the Mystetskyi Arsenal, Johannes Ebert, the Secretary General of the Goethe-Institut, Volodymyr Sheiko, the Director of the Ukrainian Institute, and the writer Serhiy Zhadan.
Moderated by cultural mediator Alona Karavai.
- The Book Arsenal will also present the Fokstroty musical and poetic performance, which will be the highlight of the Ukrainian program in Frankfurt and will be held on October 21 at 18:30 in the Frankfurt Pavillion.
Fokstroty is a pop update of Ukrainian poetry, an experimental side-project of the Mystetskyi Arsenal that was presented for the first time within the project on Ukrainian futurism in 2021. Serhiy Zhadan, Lyuba Yakimchuk, and Yuriy Gurzhy will participate in the performance. The visual component was designed by collage artist Hrytsia Erde and media artist Yevhen Arlov.
Curated by Oksana Shchur.
- On the last day of the fair, October 23 at 14:00, the discussion “The Protoliterary: Women’s Voices at War” in Frankfurt Studio will highlight the scope of women’s impact on social, political, and cultural transformations.
During the ongoing Russia’s colonialist war against Ukraine women are an important force of resistance in many spheres – at battlefield, in volunteer movement, as journalists, artists and cultural workers, both inside the country and abroad.
The panellists will also address the questions of documentation of war crimes, and discuss how artistic voices and literature become an evidence and document of wartime.
The participants are Yevgenia Belorusets, Ukrainian artist, journalist, photographer, and translator; Olexandra Matviychuk, Ukrainian human rights defender, Chair of the Board of Civil Liberties Center, NGO.
Moderated by Olesia Ostrovska-Liuta, Director General of the Mystetskyi Arsenal.
In addition, the Special Programme for publishers from Ukraine and neighbouring countries will be held during the Frankfurter Buchmesse. The program is organised by the International Book Arsenal Festival — an annual project of the Mystetskyi Arsenal — in cooperation with Frankfurter Buchmesse and Goethe-Institut Ukraine. The Special Programme is the result of the effective strategic partnership of the International Book Arsenal Festival, Frankfurter Buchmesse and Goethe-Institut Ukraine, and is subject to financial support by the German Federal Foreign Office.
- On October 21 at 17:00, the final event of the Special Programme for publishers from Ukraine and neighbouring countries — “Just do business with Ukraine!” — will be held at the Ukrainian National Stand in the format of Lightning talks.
Nine Ukrainian publishers, participants of the Special Programme, will talk about their challenges, gained experience, their dreams and plans, and most importantly, why it is worth doing business with them.
Moderated by Yuliia Kozlovets, Coordinator of the International Book Arsenal Festival.
With the slogan “Perseverance in Persistence”, Ukrainian publishing houses and institutions will be presented at the Ukrainian National Stand (Hall 4.0 B 114) with an area of 100 square metres and a separate stage with a professional and public program in English and German on all days of the fair. The program, curated by the Ukrainian Book Institute and the Goethe-Institut in Ukraine, is part of a comprehensive package of measures for which the German Ministry of Foreign Affairs allocates funds from the additional budget for 2022. Read more about the Ukrainian national stand and the Ukrainian program via the link.
During the Frankfurter Buchmesse 2022, the award ceremony of the Peace Prize (2022 Peace Prize of the German Book Trade) to Serhiy Zhadan will also take place. The award ceremony will be held on Sunday, October 23, 2022, in St. Paul’s Church in Frankfurt. The ceremony will be broadcast live at 10:45 am on the ARD TV channel.
A number of events about Ukrainian book design and illustration will also be held during the Frankfurter Buchmesse with the participation of the Mystetskyi Arsenal. The full program of events at the Frankfurter Buchmesse will soon be available via the link.
Mystetskyi Arsenal is Ukraine’s flagship cultural institution that brings together various arts – from contemporary art, new music and theatre to literature and museum development. The mission of the Mystetskyi Arsenal is to contribute to modernization of Ukrainian society and Ukraine’s integration into the global context based on the axiological potential of culture.
The International Book Arsenal Festival is a project of the Mystetskyi Arsenal that has been held annually since 2011. It is an intellectual event in Ukraine, where the book, literary, visual, music and theatre scenes develop and interact with each other, and important issues of human existence, as well as society and culture are raised, prompting the proactive position of the participants and visitors.
Frankfurter Buchmesse is the most important international trade fair for publishing and content of all kinds. Here, experts from global publishing meet partners from the technology industry and related creative industries such as film and games. Thus, it is the hub of the international rights and licensing trade, and from here new cooperations and business models take their course.