Disturbed Ground

Nominiert als Bestes Experiment

Disturbed Ground is the collaboration by Kyiv’s ∄ and CTM Festival that brings together Ukrainian and international artists to create new audiovisual performances that respond to the ecological consequences of war in Ukraine.

At the core are two new commissioned works created by pairing Ukrainian and European artists undo despot, Zeynep Schilling, Khrystyna Kirik, Mark Bain, and alen hast & myk rudik of u2203. The project is co-curated by ∄, CTM Festival, Mariana Berezovska, Anastasiia Syradoieva and alen hast from u2203, and supported by Goethe-Institut. Disturbed Ground builds on previous artistic investigations held at ∄ in autumn 2024 under the title, Echoes of the Earth.

Exploring how the force of war imprints itself into land, Khrystyna Kirik and Mark Bain’s »The Core« uses seismic data recorded during missile strikes, environmental phenomena such as earthquakes, and daily baseline readings. The artists translate this violence into vibration and sound, layering inaudible yet physically impactful low-frequency waves, sonic winds and frequency pools, dense drones, voice, and high frequency textures. Enhanced by special lighting from zeroday, the work unfolds as a journey through five acts, descending from the surface into the depths of the ground. This work is about destruction, but rather than hardening in response to trauma, it asks: what does the land feel, and can we learn to feel with it?

A collaboration by undo despot, Zeynep Schilling, and alen hast & myk rudik of u2203, »Heavy Waters« explores the layered and evolving life of rivers in Ukraine, weaving their transformation from mythical entities and life-giving sources to key assets for industry and now, to sites deeply affected by war. Visual language informed by folklore, scientific research, and ecological documentation is combined with the affective and emotional capacities of sound and composition, transporting the waters and the landscapes they shape and feed. Waters hold more than just physical matter. They carry memory, violence, and loss that settle beneath the surface. Like buried memories, these sediments may shape the future in ways we cannot yet fully see or understand.

Foto: CTM/Camille Blake