ABOUT THE PERFORMANCE
When weapons pierce concrete buildings, plant stems, the flesh of animals and humans alike; when metals and sulfur from missiles flying overhead and exploding nearby seep into soil, bones, water, and blood — are we capable of noticing the others, the non-humans, who are being destroyed alongside us? The immeasurable — quite literally — losses of nameless beings, organisms, and ecosystems continue every day and remain unpunished. And honestly, we do not know what to do about it. So we do what we know how to do: we step onto the stage with a theatrical performance to name the crimes, mourn their victims, and bear witness to a disaster that continues to grow and demands a response.
The large-scale and long-term damage inflicted on Ukraine’s environment by Russia’s military actions — such as the destruction of the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Plant dam in 2023 — constitutes an act of ecocide that requires public attention. By performing stories of war that include non-human agents, we expand our understanding of post-war justice, its temporality, and its potential to encompass more-than-human worlds. We will not be able to achieve full justice or fully restore what has been destroyed, but we can build networks of care and renew relationships with the environments that surround us.
In her famous Cyborg Manifesto, feminist scholar and cultural critic Donna Haraway describes modern warfare as a “cyborg orgy.” Within the space of war, we witness how rapidly the environment becomes a hybrid of machines and living organisms. In our own biotope, we already coexist closely with military technologies: weapons, software, code. A shared threat brings us closer to animals and exposes our interdependence. The figure of the cyborg, borrowed from Haraway, is a cybernetic organism — a hybrid living in a dual natural-artificial world, a product of social reality and, at the same time, of imagination. It reflects our social and bodily reality and serves as a resource of imagination rich in generative connections — connections we need now more than ever for collective survival.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
We thank those who supported the research process during the creation of the performance:
researcher Dariia Tsymbaliuk — for materials and conversation;
Oleksandr Kovalevskyi, Head of the 6th State Fire and Rescue Unit of the State Emergency Service of Ukraine in Izium — for the meeting and consultation;
local historian Oleksandr Miasishchev — for a shared walk through Izium;
ecologist, Doctor of Biological Sciences, and co-founder of the Ukrainian Nature Conservation Group Ivan Moisiienko — for the conversation, materials, and data.
The project is realized in collaboration with the cultural initiative uniT within the program Future Narrative for Planet Earth.
PERFORMANCE DETAILS
Date: Sunday, February 1, 7:00 PM
Location: Lviv, Jam Factory Art Center, 124 B. Khmelnytskoho St., Grand Exhibition Hall
Duration: 1 hour 20 minutes
Ticket price: 790–890 UAH
Tickets are available via the link.
ATTENTION! The performance contains contrasting light effects and loud music.
TEAM
Director: Nina Khyzhna
Playwright: Liuba Ilnytska
Performers:
Artem Vusyk
Denys Lomakin
Olena Bazhenova
Nina Khyzhna
Composer: Nick Acorne
Set & Costume Designer: Dasha Chechushkova
Tailor: Vita Kushnerevych
Lighting Designers: Oleksandr Chyzh / Anton Repiakh
Sound Engineer: Andrii Tretiak
Manager & Assistant Director: Liza Prasolova
Theatre Director: Tetiana Holubova
Tour Manager: Liza Koval
Photos from performance
