About
“The black box” symbolizes Ukrainian contemporary theatre space. It is commonly known that a black box is the box investigators search for in the event of a plane crash to figure out the real reason for the catastrophe. However, the device called a black box is not a box per se, but a spherical or cylindrical case which is not even black, but bright orange.
These two definitions are the basis for understanding of the programme: the contemporary theatre can acquire any form regardless of the proclaimed or standardized ones. And even though these forms are occasionally difficult to comprehend, they are the only opportunity to build up the cause-effect relations to understand their sources and senses.
Consequently, we hope to contribute to the development of the new generation of Ukrainian artists — through the cultivation of openness, self-awareness and development of critical approach to theatrical art.
Project Events
(Ua) Освітня програма “Театр, що (не) втратив надію. Спільнота”
2-05-2024Production of Memory | Lectures and Discussion | the black box
21-10-2023Politics of Memory | Lectures and Discussion | the black box
1-07-2023Challenges of Memory | Lectures and Discussion | the black box
7-04-2023The discussion “Theatre and Reality”
10-10-2021Lecture “Theater. Out to the city”
29-09-2022Lecture “Social Theater”
18-08-2021Lecture “Theatre and democracy: paradoxes of emancipation”
11-08-2021Lecture “Inclusive Theater”
22-07-2021Lecture “Political Theater”
17-07-2021Lecture “Who censors theater and why?”
7-07-2021Lenka Udovicki’s workshop “Ancient choir and democracy”
23-11-2019Lecture “To love or not to love. How did performance appear?”
26-10-2019Lecture “How is it created? Magical ingredient of the theatrical ‘kitchen’”
8-10-2019Lecture “What are we like — the Ukrainian theatre after the Revolution of Dignity?”
23-09-2019Lecture “First female playwrights: why is it so easy to forget them?”
26-06-2019Lecture “The bottom of the classical theatre. What is the contemporary theatre?”
13-07-2019Lecture “Who are we? Ukrainian theatre 1819-2014”
28-05-2019Archive
the black box 2024 | Educational Program “Theatre that (Hasn’t) Lost Hope. Community”
May 2-3, Lviv
Reflecting on the program for Lviv, a city currently vibrant with rapidly developing theatrical processes and attracting a multitude of artists working in various directions and aesthetics, we decided to focus on strengthening a value-driven theatrical community and enhancing the professional skills of practitioners, particularly those working in the field of Devised Theatre and employing performative modes of existence. Within the framework of workshops and lectures, theater professionals will have the opportunity to gain practical tools from skilled mentors who adeptly work with the combination of reality and fiction, the montage of aesthetics, and storytelling techniques.
Events:
– “Awakened Body” workshop by Rob Hayden (USA/Belgium)
– “Freedom and Soap I” open lecture by Alina Uberti (Romania)
– “The Body as Text” workshop by Nina Khyzhna (Ukraine)
– “Freedom and Soap II” workshop by Alina Uberti (Romania)
Location: Lviv, B. Khmelnytskoho St. 124, Jam Factory Art Center (Auditorium)
Image Gallery
the black box 2024 | “Theatre that (Hasn’t) Lost Hope. Utopia”
March 30-31, Kharkiv
Jam Factory Art Center and “Nafta” Theatre are organizing workshops and artist talks for professional theater artists and students. This year, the program for the black box 2024 will take place in three cities: Kharkiv, Lviv, and Kyiv.
In their concept, curators Nina Khyzhna and Artem Vusyk focus on the current socio-political and theatrical context of the chosen cities:
“Observing the theater scene in Kharkiv, which today suffers not only from enemy shelling but also from the ban on theatrical activities, we inevitably turn to the resource of ‘active hope.’ This seems to be the only way to endure, stand firm, resist demoralization and frustration, and continue doing our work despite everything. Every day, we must find the strength to take small yet historically significant steps toward the formation of a conscious theatrical environment, one ready to engage in critical thinking, and political and socially responsible art.”
Events:
– Workshop by Liuba Ilnytska
– Artist talk with Oleg Stefan
– Workshop by Oleg Stefan
Location: Kharkiv, YermilovCentre
Image Gallery
the black box 2023 | Production of memory
October 21-22, Dnipro
The trauma of war affects the entire society, our future, and our past. The role of artists and creative practices is crucial to begin the healing process. Forty-four million people in Ukraine and abroad are experiencing war at this very moment. Ukrainian artists will be at the forefront of rebuilding and restoring the destruction left by the war in our hearts and minds. We’re talking about the vision of ethical creation. We haven’t stopped producing values through artistic practices or in other ways. This part will be devoted to talking with practitioners. We will discuss the “black box” in the artistic field. Who programs it and how it captures reality.
Curator of the program: Veronika Skliarova
Lectures:
- Halyna Hleba “The archive of war art as a crutch of memory. A chronology of events and images”.
- Liuba Ilnytska “What is worth remembering: how theatre produces history”
- Yelyzaveta Smith “What “language” does Ukrainian cinema speak and what are we silent about today? (Focus on documentaries and fiction films of recent years)”
- A roundtable discussion moderated by Yaroslav Futymskyi “Production of memory: Art and\or values”
Image Gallery
The Black Box 2023 | The Politics of Memory
July 1-2, Kharkiv
What is our entry point into the great war of February 2022? Are we still in a “traumatized past” or have we emerged from it and entered a “traumatic present”? How did we work with data in art and theater until 2022? The conversation will be about how to “correctly” and “ethically” interpret reality in art/theater today. We’ll delve into the methods of working with victims and witnesses, review various projects and media, and contemplate whether war erodes our ethical values and makes us worse.
Curator of the program: Veronika Skliarova
Lectures:
- “New dictionary: wartime theater” by Nina Khyzhna
- “How the theater “turns” pain into experience” by Piotr Armianovskyi
- “The role of theater in undermining dominant narratives” by Zoe Lafferty
- Roundtable: “The politics of memory: how to talk about the theater today”
Other materials
Image Gallery
The Black Box 2023 | The Challenges of Memory
April 7-9, Lviv
The series “The challenges of Memory” is dedicated to portraying the changes in the cultural landscapes of the country, popularization of art. For example, how to commemorate the theater of Mariupol or Kherson? What do we remember now about the theatrical sphere of Donetsk 2000 – 2014? We will consider different cases, both successful ones as well as “the memory loss” ones.
Curator of the program: Veronika Skliarova
- “The changes in the cultural landscapes of the country: the individual and the institutional (non)remembrance” the recordings of the lecture by Iryna Chuzhynova
- “The theater as a memory machine” the recordings of lecture by Eva Bal
- “The instrumental meaning of theater in the (post)colonial context” the recordings of lecture by Maiia Harbuziuk
- “The challenges of Memory: focusing on theater” the recordings of debates
Image Gallery
The Black Box 2021
Theater intertwines with reality, that exists outside its walls or denies it and creates own version of reality; mirrors the life or refuses reproducing the leading narratives; is the part of actual processes and events or tries to be the influencer; theater dissociates itself from the bustles of outside world or on contrary – steps out of its “black box” and ventures into spaces walls or stage platforms.
The art of performance that uses fiction, imagination and fantasy, in one way or another is in the relationship with the reality, both local, that considers work environment of actors and their personal affairs and specific context of creating; and global in which geographically and culturally distanced countries and events exist, non visible, therefore unknown social groups exist, latest scientific findings and the events long lost in the flow of time.
- “Who censors theater and why” the lecture by Yoanna Vihovska
- “Political theater” the lecture by Roza Sarkisian
- “Inclusive theater” the lecture by Anastasiia Voitiuk
- “Theater and Democracy” the lecture by Oksana Cherkashyna
- “Social theater” the lecture by Yana Svobodova
- “Theater. Venturing out into the city” the lecture by Dmytro Levytskyi
- “Theater and Reality” the discussion
Publications in the “Korydor” magazine:
Image Gallery
The Black Box 2019
The first program of the black box took place in 2019 under the curatorship of Bohdan Hrytsіuk. The videos of the lectures by Hanna Uliura, Veronika Skliarova, Maiia Harbuziuk and Olena Apchel are available via the links below:
- “The first women playwrights: why is it so easy to forget them?” the lecture by Hanna Uliura
- “The bottom of the classic theater. What is modern theater?” the lecture by Veronika Skliarova
- “Who are we? Ukrainian theater 1819 – 2014” the lecture by Maііa Harbuzіuk
- Lecture by Olena Apchel “To love or not to love. How did performance came to be? P.1
- Lecture by Olena Apchel “To love or not to love. How did performance came to be? P.2
Project Coordinators
