CETKA

CETKA

CETKA is a project around bringing artists and cultural initiatives from Ukraine, Russia and Belarus together. The terrifying events of the last weeks have been doing the opposite: destroying lifes, homes, families and tearing people apart. Most of the members from our network have been uprooted - not knowing, if they can ever return to their homes and spaces of activity. Our hearts are broken.

This is not our war. It’s not the war of people, but that of ruthless expansion fantasies. We refuse to let this war divide us. We continue to be supportive of each other, we stand in solidarity and we act against this war.


The short films shown are from some of our partner organizations in Ukraine - from the cities Kharkiv, Kherson, Mariupol and Dnipro. They were shot from December 2020 to January 2022, shortly before the war started and explain the activities of artists in their hometowns. These films show cities before their destruction and artists before they had been uprooted. The events of the last weeks have changed how we perceive the films: from showing the confident and futuristic work of artist collectives, to being a documentation of a more peaceful past in cities that will never be the same.

Introduction

CETКA Ambassadors advocate for social issues using artistic and cultural practices. They form the basis of an engaged civil society in regions of Belarus, Russia, Ukraine and Germany. They are collectives, independent cultural spaces and non-governmental organisations as well as activists. They are concerned about the future.
 

The Platform

The Cetka network connects civil protagonists and their fields of action in a digital grid. Using video portraits, the challenges and activities in the regions are presented along with factsheets about their cities. Get to know the people behind the action and connect to our community.
 

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About

ABOUT
↘

Lately, a project team from ZK/U Berlin travelled through Russia two months before the opening of the soccer world cup in spring 2018. The mission: Portray civil society, culture and urban development beyond the well-known capitals in a documentary film.
 

Read more
 

In the project CETКA (Russian for "network"), together with local partners we took one step further and were guided by the questions: What is happening in regions of Belarus, Ukraine and Russia? Who are the people who stay there and what issues do they deal with? What is the role of arts and culture in the provinces? And how can collectives and civil society actors have an impact beyond their region?
 

2019 we spent researching, reading, exploring. In the end we came up with 12 cities and local actors: From Vladivostok on the Pacific Ocean to Brest on the polish-belarusian border. From cultural centres to artists collectives to feminist organisations. We called them ambassadors.
 

In December 2019, all ambassadors met in Berlin. At this kick-off we learned the word ‘sisterhood’, we understood that collectivity is the core and that dealing with local heritage and identity is different in the specific regions, but very similar in approach.
 

2020 we did not spend travelling. The political and social situation in Belarus meant that our partner organisation Minsk Urban Platform was working out of exile in Ukraine and the lives of all civil society and cultural actors on the ground changed abruptly. In spite of all obstacles, the ambassadors (and the number even grew!) continued to work collectively on the basic values and fields of action of CETКA, were trained as filmmakers and made 3- to 7-minute short films in their cities: with much humour, reflection, thoughtfulness and confidence in the future.
 

Next to the short films presented on this website, the podcast “Кasha Today” and the sound database “Sprotify” are side-projects of CETКA.
 

We see CETКA as a platform to grow, develop and change from the inside: In the future we plan on training our ambassadors to work further as film makers and script writers, to research specific topics of their regions and portray them with filming tools. And, we enable them to train the newcomer ambassadors to film their cities and activities. CETКA - the net is constantly being woven from within and on one's own initiative.
 

Charta

CHARTA
↘

CETКA Ambassadors’ working approach is process-oriented, open for discussion and inclusive. They embrace the complexity of social life and use site-specific and democratic strategies for tackling local challenges.
 

Read our CHARTA
 

CETКA Ambassadors are interested in an active reflection of history in all its layers. Cultural diversity and tolerance are core values of CETКA ambassadors. They stand for reducing inequalities and increasing social acceptance of the marginalised. Racism, sexism and other forms of discrimination have no space in the CETКA cosmos.
 

CETКA Ambassadors are committed to social justice: they promote equal opportunities for participation in political, economic and social life.
 

CETКA Ambassadors are willing to share their experiences and knowledge, aiming at strengthening educational and civic institutions.
 

CETКA Ambassadors are environmentally aware. They are concerned about climate change, soil contamination, waste-management and other ecologically relevant issues and actively seek sustainable solutions for local and global challenges.
 

CETКA Ambassadors create open and vivid public spaces and stand for a considered reflection of urban heritage.
 

Team & Partners


TEAM
↘


Project director Barbara Anna Bernsmeier
Artistic directors Matthias Einhoff, Miodrag Kuč
Coordination and curatorial assistance  Olesia Vitiuk 
Local coordination Darya Tkacheva, Andrei Karpeka 
 

Ambassadors   Maria Aleksandrova & Maria Rybka & Nadezhda Valetskaya, Kristina Dryagina, Yana Gaponenko, Sviatlana Gaidalionok, Vera Goshkoderia, Andrei Karpeka, Sergei Kremnev & Yulia Krivtsova, Dmitri Moskvin, Yulia Ovcharenko & Kate Rusetska, Tatyana Sinitcyna, Nadya Snigireva, Stepan Subbotin, Darya Tkacheva, Anton Valkovsky, Darya Yakovleva, Thomas & Maria Zimmermann.


Films and script development Linda Vierecke 
Visual communication Lars Neckel
Web development Lars Hayer
Translation Anton Mozgunov


Special thanks to Sergei Kachkin, Ksenia Les, Florentine Nadolni (Dokumentationszentrum Alltagskultur DDR), Martin Maleschka, John Neillan, Kerstin Schönewolf, team Werkstatt Haus der Statistik, Maria Veits, Benedikt Wieferig, Jürg Andreas Meister.


PARTNERS
↘


CETКA is a project by ZK/U – Center for Art and Urbanistics Berlin in cooperation with Minsk Urban Platform and Cultural Centre 5th Floor Kirov. It is funded by the German Federal Foreign Office as part of the programme “Expanding Cooperation with Civil Society in the Eastern Partnership Countries and Russia”. 
 


Contact
↘

Tel.: +49 30 39885842
email: cetka(at)zku-berlin.org
 

Impresseum/Imprint
↘

Information supplied in accordance with § 5 of the german TMG:
KUNSTrePUBLIK e.V.
Siemensstr. 27
10551 Berlin
Germany

Reg. No.: Amtsgericht Charlottenburg: VR 25571 B
ID No.: 27/670/55735
Directors: Matthias Einhoff, Philip Horst & Harry Sachs
 

Copyright
↘

Cetka claims no credit for any images posted on this site unless otherwise noted. Images on this website are copyright to its respectful owners. If there is an image appearing on this website that belongs to you and do not wish for it to appear on this site, please Email with a link to said image and it will be promptly removed.
Users uploading a photo or any other content that may be protected have to make sure, they own the copyrights or make a copyright-statement if required. Cetka assumes no responsibility for any third-party copyright infringements.

Cetka reserves the right to use the uploaded third-party content for their promotional and social media activities.
 

Disclaimer
↘

Last update: 16 December 2020 
The information contained on Cetka is for general information purposes only. Cetka assumes no responsibility for errors or omissions in the contents of the service.
In no event shall Cetka be liable for any special, direct, indirect, consequential, or incidental damages or any damages whatsoever, whether in action of contract, negligence or other tort, arising out of or in connection with the use of the service or the contents of the service. Cetka reserves the right to make additions, deletions, or modification to the contents on the service at any time without prior notice.

Cetka website may contain links to external websites that are not provided or maintained by or in any way affiliated with Cetka. Please note that Cetka does not guarantee the accuracy, relevance, timeliness, or completeness of any information on these external websites.
 

The network

Park Ring (Kaliningrad)

Park Ring (Kaliningrad)

Park Ring Kaliningrad is engaged in sociocultural and research projects in the fields of sustainable development, urbanism, urban ecology and culture, promotes participation in urban planning, as well as implements their main project - a network of park spaces on the territory of the historical defensive belt in Kaliningrad.

Established: 2018. Ambassador: Vera Goshkoderia 

 

#HeritageAwareness #Ecologicalawareness #SpaceActivation


Mail: [email protected] Website: parkring.ru 
Social media: Instagram, Facebook, VK, YouTube

 

 

 

Urban Fact Sheet

Kaliningrad

Coordinates °' 54° 58′ N, 73° 23′ O 

 

Founded  1 September 1255

 

Timezone /// UTC +2

 

Population       475,056 (2018)  ↘

 

Bicycle Lanes  ~  50 km

 

Distance from Capital by train  ←---→   19 h

 

Unique selling point  ◊  Kant heritage, German/Prussian heritage, Curonian Spit, Baltic Sea + legends of demolished Royal Castle.

 

Most popular local fast food    Stroganina (dried frozen fish), Königsberger Klopse.

 

Now ! trending in the city  Coffee Shops

 

Biggest environmental challenge  Δ  Lack of a proper strategy on sustainable urban development and climate adaptation (which results in degrading green spaces, growing automobilization, poor quality of air and water).

Feminitive (Kaliningrad)

Feminitive (Kaliningrad)

Feminist community working and living in Kaliningrad.

Established: 2018. Ambassador: Darya Yakovleva 

 

#Collectivity #Diversity #FightingStereotypes

 

Mail: [email protected] Website: http://feminitive.com/

Social media: Instagram, Facebook, VK, YouTube

Urban Fact Sheet

Kaliningrad

Coordinates °' 54° 58′ N, 73° 23′ O 

 

Founded  1 September 1255

 

Timezone /// UTC +2

 

Population       475,056 (2018)  ↘

 

Bicycle Lanes  ~  50 km

 

Distance from Capital by train  ←---→   19 h

 

Unique selling point  ◊  Kant heritage, German/Prussian heritage, Curonian Spit, Baltic Sea + legends of demolished Royal Castle.

 

Most popular local fast food    Stroganina (dried frozen fish), Königsberger Klopse.

 

Now ! trending in the city  Coffee Shops

 

Biggest environmental challenge  Δ  Lack of a proper strategy on sustainable urban development and climate adaptation (which results in degrading green spaces, growing automobilization, poor quality of air and water).

Typography (Krasnodar)

Typography (Krasnodar)

Center for contemporary Art Typography supports the local community, maintains and develops a dialogue on various topics of the present.

Established: 2012. Ambassador: Stepan Subbotin

 

#Solidarity #SpaceActivation #BuildingCommunity

 

Mail: [email protected] Website: http://typography-online.ru/

Social media:  Instagram, Facebook, VK

 

Urban Fact Sheet

Krasnodar

Coordinates °' 45° 2′ 0″ N , 38° 59′ 0″ O

 

Founded  1793

 

Timezone /// UTC +3

 

Population       Growing ↗

 

Bicycle Lanes  ~  not known 

 

Distance from Capital by train  ←---→      24 h

 

Unique selling point  ◊  Park Krasnodar, old cemetery in the city center.

 

Most popular local fast food    Grilled sandwiches from Tetka Zapekanka 

 

Now ! trending in the city  Coffee Shops

 

Biggest environmental challenge  Δ  Lots of cars, insufficient public transport 

HÆSHTÆG (Vladikavkaz)

HÆSHTÆG (Vladikavkaz)

HÆSHTÆG is a self-organisation of contemporary Ossetian artists. It is creating solutions and prototypes for dealing with urgent challenges through careful interpretation and actualization of Ossetian heritage using contemporary art media.

Established: 2016. Ambassador: Anton Valkovsky
 

#ColonialHistory #InterculturalExchange #ReflectingLocalIdentity #FightingStereotypes #Solidarity
 

Mail: [email protected]
Social media: Instagram, Facebook

 

Urban Fact Sheet

Vladikavkaz

Coordinates °' 43°01′ N 44°41′ O 

 

Founded  1784

 

Timezone /// UTC +3

 

Population       Shrinking. ↘

 

Bicycle Lanes  ~  37 km

 

Distance from Capital by train  ←---→     36 h

 

Unique selling point  ◊  Mountains

 

Most popular local fast food    Ossetian pies 

 

Now ! trending in the city  Coffee minivans

 

Biggest environmental challenge  Δ  Ossetian-Ingushetian and Ossetian-Georgian war conflict

Kultura Medialna (Dnipro)

Kultura Medialna (Dnipro)

Fostering cultural and urban development in Central and Eastern Ukraine, specifically in the city of Dnipro, with focus on contemporary art, media art and growth of public space and city communities.

Established: 2013. Ambassadors: Yulia Ovcharenko & Kate Rusetska

 

#HeritageAwareness #NonformalEducation #BuildingCommunity #SpaceActivation

 

Mail [email protected] Website

kulturamedialna.org

Social media: Instagram, Facebook, YouTube

Urban Fact Sheet

Dnipro

Coordinates °' Location

 

Founded   1776

 

Timezone /// UTC+3 

 

Population        →← Stagnation / but now Shrinking

 

Bicycle Lanes  ~  5,6 km

 

Distance from Capital by train  ←---→   8 hours or 5 hours in a speed train.

 

Unique selling point  ◊  Retro Futuristic architecture (Palace of Youth, Dnipro metro stations, Central bus station), South railway station, River port.

 

Most popular local fast food    Shawarma, pirozhki.

 

Now ! trending in the city  Third wave of coffee shops, huge number of cross fit and multi-service beauty salons.

 

Biggest environmental challenge  Δ  Air and water pollution

VSCA (Vladivostok)

VSCA (Vladivostok)

Collective learning practices for artists’ community building in Vladivostok.

Established: 2015. Ambassador: Yana Gaponenko 

 

#RegionalNetworks #NonformalEducation #BuildingCommunity

 

Mail: [email protected] Website: vsca.ru

Social media: Instagram, Facebook, VK

 

Urban Fact Sheet

Vladivostok

Coordinates °' 43° 7′ N , 131° 54′ O

 

Founded  July 2, 1860

 

Timezone /// UTC +10

 

Population       Shrinking (606 561 people) ↘

 

Bicycle Lanes  ~  almost no lanes

 

Distance from Capital by train  ←---→     146 h

 

Unique selling point  ◊  Vladivostok Fortress built in 1889-1918 was the most fortified of all the fortresses built at that time. In 2019 it became the first federal museum in the Far East.

 

Most popular local fast food    Russo-Korean steamed pie pyanse (pigodi)

 

Now ! trending in the city  Seafood festivals

 

Biggest environmental challenge  Δ  Too many cars. Poaching in the sea. Decrease of sea species

Minsk Urban Platform (Minsk)

Minsk Urban Platform (Minsk)

With love for the city. With love for people. / С любовью к городу. С любовью к людям.

Established: 2011. Ambassador: Andrei Karpeka 

#NeighborhoodActivation #NonformalEducation #EcologicalAwareness

 

Mail: [email protected] Website: www.urbanist.by

Social media: Instagram, Facebook, VK, YouTube

Urban Fact Sheet

Minsk

Coordinates °' 53° 54′ N , 27° 33′ O

 

Founded  1067 (first mentioned)

 

Timezone /// UTC +3

 

Population        Growing ↗

 

Bicycle Lanes  ~  251 km

 

Distance from Capital by train  ←---→     0 or 167 from Vilnius :)

 

Unique selling point  ◊  There was an open-air pagan temple with eternal fire of sacrifice in the very center of Minsk until the middle of the 20th century. 

 

Most popular local fast food    Pancakes if local, doner kebap if most popular.

 

Now ! trending in the city  Neighborhood street protests, white-red-white flags in the windows.

 

Biggest environmental challenge  Δ   Car emissions (around 88% of all emissions in Minsk)

5th Floor (Kirov)

5th Floor (Kirov)

A place to study current processes in culture and society.

Established: 2018. Ambassador: Darya Tkacheva

 

#SocialCohesion #NonformalEducation #ReflectingLocalIdentity

 

Mail: [email protected] Website:

mtc-kirov.ru

Social media: Instagram, Facebook

Urban Fact Sheet

Kirov

Coordinates °' 58°35′ N., 49°39′ O

 

Founded  1374

 

Timezone /// UTC +3

 

Population       Shrinking ↘

 

Bicycle Lanes  ~   3 km

 

Distance from Capital by train  ←---→    12 h

 

Unique selling point  ◊  Iconic underground passages

 

Most popular local fast food    Danar (Kirov-style sandwich in Doner style)

 

Now ! trending in the city  Large number of bakeries

 

Biggest environmental challenge  Δ   Move major industries out of the city; problems with waste management. 

Steelbruch e.V. (Eisenhüttenstadt)

Steelbruch e.V. (Eisenhüttenstadt)

Artenvielfalt ist Lebensqualität / Species diversity is life quality

Established: before 2007 / Club Steelbruch 2015. Ambassadors: Thomas and Maria Zimmermann

 

#BuildingCommunity #FightingStereotypes #ReflectingLocalIdentity

 

Mail: [email protected] Webseite

steeltownrecords.de

Social media: Facebook

 

Urban Fact Sheet

Eisenhüttenstadt

Coordinates °' 52° 9′ N , 14° 38′ O

 

Founded   1950

 

Timezone /// UTC+1

 

Population        Shrinking ↘

 

Bicycle Lanes  ~  150 km 

 

Distance from Capital by train  ←---→    1.30 h

 

Unique selling point  ◊  Tom Hanks visited the city and gave it a new name : Iron Hut City, but the people still called it Steeltown.

 

Most popular local fast food    Broiler (East German roasted chicken)

 

Now ! trending in the city  Having an unusual dog race; many parks, woods and nature areas. 

 

Biggest environmental challenge  Δ  Decreased dependency of citizens on cars.

Project Group 8 (Kazan)

Project Group 8 (Kazan)

Creation of public spaces with people and for people.

Established: 2011. Ambassador: Nadya Snigiryova

 

#SpaceActivation #ReflectingLocalIdentity #NeighborhoodActivation

 

Mail: [email protected] Website: www.8architects.com

Social media: Instagram, Facebook, VK, YouTube

Urban Fact Sheet

Kazan

Coordinates °' 55°47′27″ N 49°06′52″O

 

Founded  1005

 

Timezone /// UTC +3

 

Population       Growing ↗

 

Bicycle Lanes  ~  7 km

 

Distance from Capital by train  ←---→    12 h

 

Unique selling point  ◊  Open public spaces, urban improvement, capitalist romanticism architecture of the 1990's.

 

Most popular local fast food    Kystyby, echpochmak.

 

Now ! trending in the city  Scooter sharing, poke (salad in a bowl)

 

Biggest environmental challenge  Δ   River bank development, plans for incinerator construction, highway construction, "Kazanorgsintez" lights that illuminate the sky at night with orange lights.

Textil (Yaroslavl)

Textil (Yaroslavl)

TEXTIL connects people and places they live and work at.

Established: 2006/2013. Ambassadors: Sergei Kremnev & Yulia Krivtsova 

 

#SpaceActivation #ReflectingLocalIdentity #InnovationOfHeritage

 

Mail: [email protected] Website: textil.in

Social media: Instagram, Facebook, VK, YouTube

Urban Fact Sheet

Yaroslavl

Coordinates °' 57° 38′ N , 39° 53′ O

 

Founded  1010

 

Timezone /// UTC +3

 

Population       Stagnation →← 

 

Bicycle Lanes ~ 0 lanes

 

Distance from Capital by train  ←---→   3 h

 

Unique selling point ◊  Church of John the Baptist shown on the 1000 Ruble banknote.

 

Most popular local fast food   Pirozhki (pies) with different fillings

 

Now ! trendingin the city  Pop-up galleries and bars

 

Biggest environmental challenge ∆  Waste from Moscow is stored in the city; industry in the city centre; water quality.

Arctic Art Institute (Arkhangelsk)

Arctic Art Institute (Arkhangelsk)

By its very existence, the Institute challenges the term ‘contemporary’ and ‘art’, developing its own language in its human-oriented and place-oriented projects.

Established: 2014. Ambassador: Kristina Dryagina 

 

#DealingWithColonialHistory #ReflectingLocalIdentity #InterculturalExchange

 

Mail: [email protected] Website: arcticartinstitute.com/

Social media: Instagram, Facebook, VK, YouTube

Urban Fact Sheet

Arkhangelsk

Coordinates °' 64°32′N 40°32′E

 

Founded   1584

 

Timezone /// UTC+3 (MSK)

 

Population   Stagnation  →←

 

Bicycle Lanes   ~    1,3 km

 

Distance from Capital by train     ←---→     20 h

 

Unique selling point   ◊     The highest wooden house in Europe, the Sutyagin house, was built in the North of Arkhangelsk.

 

Most popular local fast food     Bakery "Vinaigrette"

 

Now ! trending in the city    Shopping centers

 

Biggest environmental challenge   Δ    Low level of waste recycling.

 

CfUC (Perm)

CfUC (Perm)

Center for urban Cultures is a new independent cultural platform in Perm, created to support local cultural, social and educational initiatives.

Established: 2018. Ambassador: Tatyana Sinitcyna

 

#NonformalEducation #ReflectingLocalIdentity #SocialCohesion

 

Mail: [email protected]

Social media: Instagram, Facebook, VK

Urban Fact Sheet

Perm

Coordinates °' 58° 0′ N , 56° 15′ O

 

Founded  1723

 

Timezone /// UTC +5

 

Population      growing ↗ 1 055 397 (2020)

 

Bicycle Lanes  ~   19 km

 

Distance from Capital by train  ←---→    25 h

 

Unique selling point  ◊  The whole world calls this era of Earth's history by our name - the Permian period!

 

Most popular local fast food    Shangi (local cheesecake buns) 

 

Now ! trending in the city  Preparing the city to its 300-year anniversary 

 

Biggest environmental challenge  Δ   The main environmental problems of the Perm Territory are deforestation, mountains of garbage and lack of culture (2013).