∄ X CTM – Disturbed Ground

22nd Jun 2025 22nd Jun 2025 18:00 22:00

Khrystyna Kirik X Mark Bain

00:00

undo despot X Zeynep Schilling

00:00

∄

Tickets coming soon

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This evening offers a chance to see the first phase of works created in the framework of Disturbed Ground – a collaboration by Kyiv’s ∄ and Berlin’s CTM bringing together artists undo despot X Zeynep Schilling, and Khrystyna Kirik X Mark Bain X u2203 studio. Through artisti pairings, two new audiovisual works are in creation, that respond to the ecological consequences of war in Ukraine. 

Design: alen hast and myk rudik from u2203 studio
Design: alen hast and myk rudik from u2203 studio

Over the past week ahead of this event, the artists will be working in Kyiv at ∄’s creative and tech production space, u2203 studio, collaborating closely with scientists and researchers who are investigating the environmental destruction caused by Russia’s full-scale invasion — from contaminated water systems to soil destabilized by ongoing military explosions. In dialoguing with scientific research, the artworks aim to propose different ways of relating to ecocide and expand anthropocentric perspectives of military realities.

  • Sub-sur-face, by Khrystyna Kirik

  • Sub-sur-face, by Khrystyna Kirik

Kyiv sound artist Khrystyna Kirik and US-born, Amsterdam-based artist Mark Bain, known for his seismic and architectural investigations, will explore the impact of military explosions on soil — from surface shockwaves to deep, often invisible ruptures that reshape Ukraine’s landscape. Enhanced with visuals from alen hast and myk rudik of u2203, their work will translate the intense destructive violence of explosions in different regions, from Sumy and Kharkiv in the north east to Kherson in the south, through an embodied performance, by making audible some of the low frequency vibrations that fall below the human spectrum of hearing, as well as through archisonic processes that will vibrate ∄'s impressive halls as well as the bodies present.

Odesa multidisciplinary artist undo despot and Berlin-based contemporary artist Zeynep Schilling will focus on contaminated water bodies, drawing from scientific studies that detail the pollution of Ukraine’s rivers and reservoirs — from the collapse of the Kakhovka dam to the toxic residue of submerged military debris running through rivers such as the Oskil and the Seym. Their performance will weave together ecological research with mythological imagery to reflect on the river as both a carrier of memory and a site of transformation.

Following their presentation in Kyiv, the works will be previewed at an event with the Ukrainian Institute in Berlin in July 2025. The works will then be further developped for their full Berlin premiere at CTM Festival in early 2026.

Disturbed Ground is co-produced by ∄ and CTM Festival with support from Goethe-Institut’s Co-production Fund.

The work by Mark Bain X Krystyna Kirik X u2203 studio is further supported within the framework of CTM’s Radio Lab with Deutschlandfunk Kultur, ORF, and tekhnē. tekhnē is co-funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA). Neither the European Union nor EACEA can be held responsible for them.