The Russian invasion of Ukraine is tragically continuing: today Russian forces seized the Zaporizhzhia facility, Europe's biggest nuclear power plant, in southeastern Ukraine. The facility was under heavy shelling and the US ambassador to the United Nations stated that the world narrowly averted a nuclear catastrophe when a fire broke out during the Russian attack. The US Embassy in Ukraine also highlighted that attacking a nuclear power plant is a war crime.
In the meantime, in Russia the state communications regulator blocked access to Facebook and Twitter to retaliate against the decision of Facebook putting restrictions on state-owned media.
The Russian invasion in Ukraine is the largest assault on a European state since the Second World War and it is getting scarier and more appalling as the days go by. Seeing train stations full of people fleeing Ukraine calls to mind other tragic scenes from the Second World War and sends shivers down your spine.
In this distaster we can all help in different ways: we can, for example, donate money to charities sending medical supplies and food or organising shelters for refugees (it is estimated that soon there will not be just one but several millions of displaced Ukrainians in Europe).
During the first wave of Covid we have seen sections of large art venues being reserved to temporary hospitals and this conflict may inspire some art venues to educate people about history and culture and actively help refugees with donations, in the hope that the conflict will soon be over.
In some countries art and culture are actually already taking a stand in support of Ukraine: in yesterday's post we looked at film events and festivals organising screenings of Ukrainian films, while in Germany the Art Institutions of Berlin are jointly calling for donations for the benefit of the Ukrainian refugees who arrive in the city (many of them are currently being welcomed at the train stations by ordinary people offering them food and shelter in their own houses).
This weekend (from 5th March at noon to 6th march at midnight), there will be a special event at the Mies van der Rohe's pavilion of the Neue Nationalgalerie in Berlin (Potsdamer Str. 50).
The pavilion will turn into a place to ponder, communicate with other people and offer help and solidarity. This is an open mic event and, while visual artists, musicians, and actors intend to participate, everybody will be able to share their thoughts, music and literature.
The main point will be collecting donations for the Ukrainian refugees arriving in Berlin in collaboration with Be an Angel e.V. (they are currently asking for the following: money, power banks / smart-phone chargers and mobile WIFI hotspots), a Berlin-based initiative working towards the sustainable integration of people with a refugee background.
People visiting the pavilion will be able to donate money on the premises of the Neue Nationalgalerie via QR-Code, cash or bank transfer (to donate to Be an Angel e.V. use the following bank details: Donation code: #kunst4ukraine; Account: 014 522 59 00 Sort code 100 708 48 - Deutsche Bank; IBAN: DE37100708480145225900 BIC DEUTDEDB110).
This event of solidarity, vigil and caring, entitled "Our Space to Help", was initiated by Klaus Biesenbach, in close cooperation with artists Anne Imhof and Olafur Eliasson, together with the artists' studio teams, and a large group of colleagues and volunteers of the Neue Nationalgalerie, and the Stiftung Preußischer Kulturbesitz.
"Russia's attack on Ukraine – a free, democratic country – has brought many of us to the edge of the imaginable," Eliasson stated in a press release about this event sent today by his studio. "How is such a reckless and heinous act possible in 2022, a time in which we should be standing together to solve urgent challenges like the climate crisis? It is heartening to see how ordinary people, companies, and institutions in Europe and across the world are finding ways to help Ukrainians, both in Ukraine and those fleeing or having fled the country, showing compassion and solidarity at this crucial moment."
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