Odesa's Cultural Life Stalls Post-Invasion, Urgent Rehabilitation Needed

After the Russian invasion of Odesa began, the difficulties of cultural life in Odesa, which had been observed before the war, have worsened.

This was stated by Anna Morokhovska, curator of the Museum of Contemporary Art, during a live broadcast on Intent.Insight.

According to her, before the full-scale invasion, there were attempts to make Odesa a kind of cultural capital of Ukraine. There was an attempt to create the first state museum of contemporary art, there were galleries, and a private museum of contemporary art.

After the invasion began, Anna Morokhovska believes that cultural life came to a standstill. Because of the difficult situation of museum institutions, which could not function normally. Some closed down, others took their collections out, galleries mostly closed down, and artists went either abroad or to other cities, which made Odesa unattractive for young artists.

"It's clear that there is a difference between Odesa, where something may come back someday, and Kyiv or Lviv, where active life is going on right now, so they go there, or abroad if they have the opportunity and it's more promising. This is the difficulty," said the museum curator.

Even though Odesa's cultural life has revived a bit, Anna Morokhovska believes that the city still needs cultural rehabilitation.

Earlier, the first exhibition of the Museum of Contemporary Art of Odesa at the new address, 31/33 Evropeiska Street, was the project "Calypso Mirages: Captured by the Depths by Dmytro Dulphan". The exhibition of works by Odesa artist Dmytro Dulfan (1971-2024) opened on March 1 at 17:00.

Every week, Intent.Insight looks at one issue that worries Ukrainians and raises topical questions and tries to solve specific problems.

The previous airing on February 25 was devoted to the meeting "Strategy for the Future of Odesa". The previous one was devoted to the epidemiological situation in the city, explained by Olena Kolodenko, director of Odesa Primary Health Care Center #3.

Before that, the Ether was dedicated to the Odesa Archaeological Museum, which recently received equipment to create virtual models of valuable exhibits from the museum's collection and began creating 3D models of 60 exhibits. And how to protect the exhibits from the war.

Кирило Бойко