'For the first time in the history of the European Capital of Culture, a city that is from outside the European Union participates in the ECC,' said Krzysztof Maj, director of the ECC Wroclaw 2016. 'Perhaps thanks to this, the European Commission will want to shape the competition in a new way. After all, the culture is one, not limited in its political boundaries or any entanglements.'
'We are not forgetting tradition and history, but we will show a new, modern Ukraine in Wroclaw, explains Rafał Koziński, co-organizer of the Lviv Month. 'Lviv acts as a lens, which allows you to look deeper into the culture of Ukraine as a whole.
For nearly thirty days, Lviv will share with Wroclaw the title of the European Capital of Culture and will host nearly three hundred Ukrainian artists - musicians, writers, painters, performers, directors.
The Lviv Month will be inaugurated by the exhibition 'Ukrajins'kyj Zriz. Transformations.' From April 1, on the six floors of the building at Rynek 25 (the former Moda Polska) available will be nearly two hundred works by fifty contemporary artists from Ukraine.
'Ukrajins'kyj Zriz, or Ukrainian Cross-section, is a presentation of the Ukrainian contemporary art, which shows how diverse and multicultural the face of Ukraine is,' the organizers say. The building will house paintings, sculpture, installations, video art, digital media art and performance.
The April events were divided into six thematic blocks. Music will include concerts of Ukrainian musicians such as the Hycz Orchestra, Shatur-Gudur, Dagadana or jazzmen. We will also hear author's projects, new experimental sounds; the musicians will take the audience on a musical journey through the cultures of Ukraine. Concerts will be held in Stary Klasztor (the Posłuchaj Ukraińskie [Listen to Ukrainian] cycle), in Klubokawiarnia Lwowska Pod Klepsydrą, Klub Poczytanka in Przejście Garncarskie (the Dźwięki ze Wschodu [Sounds From the East] cycle), in the outdoors in the Lviv Alley, to which Przejście Garncarskie will be transformed (the Muzyka na ulicy [Music in the Street] cycle).
The cycle Literature/Debates will include meetings with Ukrainian and Polish writers - Yuri Andrukhovych, Irena Karpa, Ivan Bajdakiem, Bohdan Zadura, Wira Baładyniuk, Dymytro Antoniuk, Andriy Bondar and Ziemowit Szczerk. The programme also includes the Ukrainian Poetry and Non Stop Music Night.
In the cycle Film, hosted by the Nowe Horyzonty Cinema, includes not only the known titles of Ukrainian cinema from the past, but most of all, films made by young, contemporary artists. 'We managed to translate films that have never been shown in Poland before,' stresses Olga Chrebor, coordinator of the Lviv Month. A trip to the cinema is definitely worth your time, because it will be one of the few opportunities to know the Ukrainian productions from the years 2011-2015.
While children will be able to take part in a mask-making workshop and music workshop with the band Dagadana, paint artistic Easter eggs, build their own instruments, and even learn how to make Ukrainian dolls.
For the entire month, Przejście Garncarskie will turn into Lviv Alley. It will house stands with Ukrainian cuisine. 'Available for sampling will be Lviv coffee, chocolates and candies, halva, as well as dishes of Tatar cuisine, such as chebureks, as well as Galician strudels and fried dumplings,' says Maria Artemiuk, manager of Lviv Alley. 'There will also be stands with craft, called majsternia, which will make and sell leather goods, ceramics, paintings on glass, icons, toys. There will also be a stand for blacksmiths', she says. Lviv Alley will operate daily from 12 o'clock to 9 pm.
From Lviv Alley, electric cars will be running to the Centennial Hall, so that all interested can see the Panorama of Old Lviv.
