Authors

Viktoriia Grivina¹;  ¹ St Andrews University, UK

Discussion

Can Soviet and Russian imperial legacy be recycled and adapted to the new needs of a contemporary Ukrainian city? In this paper I analyze transformations of the aesthetic and semiotic spaces of Kharkiv following the full-scale invasion of Ukraine by Russia in 2022. Situated mere 35 kilometres from Russian border, Kharkiv was affected by the war starting 2014 when mass protests lead to the toppling of a number of Soviet symbols. In 2022 the threat of occupation by the Russian army re-actualized debates on both legislative and grassroots levels over the renaming of the streets that bear associations with Russia, alongside further deinstallation of the Soviet insignia. While some symbols such as the monument to a Soviet general Zhukov, were swiftly dismantled, some Soviet legacy, on the other hand, seems to have gained new meaning. This includes the "Hero city" status, granted to Kharkiv by the president of Ukraine and the new appreciation of the 1920s Constructivist architecture. In the times when Ukrainian society faces the biggest existential threat in its independent history, I ask if colonial legacy can be recycled and repurposed to build new cultural urban environment. 

Key words: de-colonial practices, public space, urban practices, war, decommunization, ecology of culture, Kharkiv.