Babyn to Bakhmut

Vision of the project

The project aimed to create an audiovisual work documenting the journey of volunteers from the village of Babyn (Kosiv district, Ivano-Frankivsk region) to their fellow villagers who had been serving on the frontline in Bakhmut (Donetsk region) and Huliaypol (Zaporizhzhia region) for over a year. Screenings and discussions were planned to take place in Babyn, Ivano-Frankivsk, Zaporizhzhia, Kyiv, and online.

The audiovisual work documented not only how villages in western and eastern Ukraine lived during the war but also explored the rich cultural elements of music, dialect, architecture, plants, and visual patterns unique to different regions of the country.

The project focused on three central figures: a village elder who was rescuing the wounded from the battlefield near Bakhmut, a veterinarian who became a military medic in just four days and served for over a year and a half on the frontline, and a village priest who took on the role of chaplain. These individuals were defending the country under such dangerous conditions that they were often prohibited from using mobile phones. Meanwhile, life in their villages continued without them, creating a risk of not only geographical distance but also a mental and emotional divide between those on the frontline and those who remained at home. Volunteers served as a vital connection between these groups, maintaining human ties and ensuring communication.

This project captured an extraordinary moment in Ukraine’s history, illustrating the unique role of volunteers in bridging the gap between regions and fostering connections across more than a thousand kilometres. It emphasised the importance of communication, mutual understanding, and forming an environmentally conscious attitude towards the country’s shared environment. The audiovisual work highlighted the interconnectedness of communities and the resilience of the human spirit during a time of war.

Meet the Key Partner

ArtPole Agency specializes in creating multidisciplinary projects. It collaborates with musicians, writers, artists, and invites translators, cultural anthropologists, and philosophers. The peculiarity of ArtPole's projects is their continuity, the ability to transform and be new every time thanks to the game of adding and excluding certain disciplines, changing participants and locations.

The agency emerged in 2007 in Kyiv from the Sheshory-ArtPole International Festival. In 2008 and received an invitation from Yuriy Andrukhovych to participate in a music and poetry project with the Karbido band and suggested adding a visual component. The collaboration continues with the multimedia performance Albert, or The Highest Form of Execution In 2013, the project Divided emerged, combining Olya Mykhailyuk's visualizations with Serhiy Zhadan's poetry and music. In 2015, they created the multidisciplinary projects Sum of Sun in Kyiv and VKhidnaSkhid in Berdiansk. ArtPole continues its psychogeographical research in the projects :::path::: (2014-2022), Granica (2017), and Crimea.Third Dimension (2021).

Start Date: Dec. 1, 2023
End Date: April 30, 2024