The festival "Nebenan/Поруч - Independent Art from Ukraine" invites you to performances, concerts, lectures, workshops and talks by and with Ukrainian artists and academics from 28 June to 2 July 2023. On the one hand, the contributions make visible how the war and the tense situation (existing since the annexation of Crimea in 2014) influence the biographies of the invited artists and affect their artistic practice in terms of content and form. At the same time, the programme highlights Ukraine's multi-layered identity, its traditions and histories, its pop-cultural influences and contemporary aesthetics. In the Festspielhaus and the Kulturgarten, HELLERAU presents artistic works and offers the opportunity for encounters, exchange and discussion.

With: Theatre of Playwrights, mariia&magdalyna, Hooligan Art Community, Svitlana Oleksiuk & Viktor Ruban, Fo Sho, Morwan, Dmytro Levytskyi, Olha Filonchuk, Andriy May, Bliadski Circus Queebaret, and many more.

All information and news about the festival programme can be found in the brochure and on our Telegram channel "Nebenan/Поруч".

To the Telegram ChannelDownload festival brochure here

Background of the festival

In spring 2022, HELLERAU presented independent contemporary artists from Belarus after the suppressed revolution of 2020 under the title "Nebenan/Побач".

The new edition "Nebenan/Поруч - Independent Art from Ukraine" is dedicated to the resistant power of Ukrainian contemporary art, especially in the performing arts. Since 24 February 2022, with the invasion of Ukraine by Russian troops, Russia's war of aggression has continued with violence and cruelty against the civilian population. Several million Ukrainians have fled to neighbouring European countries, and many have since returned to their homeland or are once again on the run. Ukrainian artists are involved in voluntary service, act as medics or soldiers in the war of defence, develop cultural offers for Ukrainian soldiers, create donation platforms and continue their artistic work - as far as possible - on site or "in exile".

The many collaborations at local and international level between artists, initiatives and institutions are remarkable. New collaborative working relationships and networks are emerging around the world, for example in the form of residency programmes, community projects or newly founded artist collectives.