Authors

Pavel Voinitski¹;  ¹ Independent Researcher, UK

Discussion

'Brothers and sisters!' This is how Joseph Stalin addressed the people of the USSR on July 3, 1941, mobilizing the multinational population of the Soviet empire to fight the German invasion.

'Three Sisters' is a massive monument located on the border of Ukraine, Belarus, and the Russian Federation. Constructed during the Soviet era in the style of Soviet Modernism, it once symbolized shared memory and hosted ceremonies dedicated to the symbolic 'friendship' of the three 'brotherly' nations. Today, the monument is in a state of entropy. The 'eternal unity' of the three Soviet republics - Ukrainian, Belarusian, and Russian - no longer exists. Nevertheless, monumental sculpture in these now-independent countries continues to develop, but in diverse directions. While Soviet Modernism and the principles of Socialist Realism previously unified Ukrainian, Russian, and Belarusian artists and architects working on monumental sculpture, their paths have now significantly diverged. 

My presentation will demonstrate how the Russian-Belarusian invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022, has influenced sculpture in these three countries. It will illustrate the main trends in contemporary sculpture in Ukraine, Russia, and Belarus from the onset of the war until the present day. Firstly, I will show the ongoing transformation of local post-Soviet concepts of monuments, using recent examples from all three countries. Secondly, I intend to theorize the role of monumental sculpture in the 'memes war' on social media and the Internet, highlighting various working cases. Thirdly, I will shed light on the most recent instances of Monumental iconoclasm - the demolition of Soviet and Russian monuments by Ukrainians and their restoration or reconstruction with a fresh look at places once occupied by Russians. Last but not least, the presentation will explore the collapse and transformation of the Soviet military myth in sculpture. In Belarusian, Ukrainian, and Russian art, numerous artworks and publications are devoted to war, specifically World War II or the Great Patriotic War, according to Soviet definition. It seems productive to trace how military monuments and the portrayal of war in art are changing in relation to the current war agenda.

'Never Ever Can We Be Brothers' (Ніколи ми не будемо братами) is a Ukrainian poem written by Anastasia Dmitruk in response to the Russian occupation of Crimea in 2014. This text holds significant importance as it vividly illustrates the ideological differences between the imperial Russian Federation and Ukraine, which chose the way of independence. It appears that wartime sculpture in the three former 'brotherly' countries fully aligns with this tragic thesis. My presentation will reveal the extent of this alignment and the level of contradiction reflected in contemporary sculpture in Ukraine, Belarus, and the Russian Federation.