Ukrainian Culture After February 24, 2022: A Victim Condemned to War or a Phoenix Rising from the Ashes?

Abstract

The article aims to outline the state of artistic processes in Ukraine since February 24, 2022, the date on which Russia's full-scale invasion began. It characterizes a brief period of upheaval, a kind of silence in culture, during which artists were confronted with a crossroads, of being or not being, as well as with the question of self-identification and the determination of perspectives: To form a new system of national orientation, a cultural code, or to direct energy to the survival and transformation of goals? abandoning art to its fate? It considers the complex set of aspects that led to a boom in artistic activity in mid-2022 and the first half of 2023 while outlining the culture-shaping factors and stimuli of the artistic life of Ukrainians. It also analyzes the processes that currently sustain the Ukrainian art scene: the constant disappearance of existing works of art and the organization of exhibitions within Ukraine to preserve the artistic life of the countr