Contested Decision for Europe (English)

To mark the tenth anniversary of the pro-European protests on the Kyiv Maidan, the European University Viadrina Frankfurt (Oder) exhibited works of art from the Revolution of Dignity in February 2024. The traveling exhibition »Contested Decision for Europe« is a project by literary scholar Iryna Kovalenko and cultural scientist and curator Dr. Natalia Moussienko.

More than 10 years ago, the Revolution of Dignity took place on the Maidan in Kyiv. The participants expressed their political will not only through protest demonstrations and slogans, but also with the help of artistic means. This included the production of music, poetry, performances and visual art. The artworks and artifacts of the Revolution of Dignity address the hopes and fears that the protesters experienced and lived through together on Kyiv Independence Square in the winter months of 2013/2014. Central to the demonstrators' expressions of will were their expectations and ideas towards and for Europe, as the Revolution of Dignity began with the protests for the signing of Ukraine's Association Agreement with the European Union, which they hoped would lead to a forced Europeanization of the country and thus a turn towards a democratic constitutional state with guaranteed democratic rights and freedoms for all. The resistance of the state power under Viktor Yanukovych against the protests cost the lives of numerous freedom fighters.

In 2022, when many people around the world were amazed at the courage and bravery of Ukrainians after the beginning of the great Russian war against Ukraine, Ukrainians looked back on the Revolution of Dignity and hoped to be able to successfully resist the aggressor and thus also defend the European values they had vociferously demanded at the time.

The traveling exhibition »Contested Decision for Europe« is a project by curator Dr. Natalia Moussienko and travels from place to place in the form of posters. Posters were used during the Revolution of Dignity as a means of expressing political and artistic opinions. These posters are intended to encourage visitors to engage in an exchange about the events and the resulting developments.

The traveling exhibition can be seen here online as a permanent exhibition with the kind permission of the curator Natalia Moussienko with the mediation and support of Iryna Kovalenko.