“The spirits of the KhODA”
17.10 - 31.12.2022.
Project objectives
-To transform perception of the destroyed heritage (especially the heritage of the Soviet past) through non-violent communication through the visual channel;
-showing of the involvement of the “small people” with the activity of the totalitarian regime;
-initiating of the discussion about the uncomfortable heritage;
-dealing with the traumatic past.
Project description
The project “Spirits of the KhODA: the building as a spatial model unfolded in time” is an advocation of the architectural heritage ruined during the full-scale invasion of the Russian Federation. We created a page on our site “Constuctivism.Kharkiv”, on which we added five chronological layers on the history of the KhODA (Kharkiv Regional State Administration). The vector image of KhODA contains animated windows in which we put some media-files (video, audio and photos), describing the everyday life of people, who either built this building or worked in it. Thus, we showed not only the architectural value of this building, but also the connection of our everyday life with the grand narrative. Our project is important not only for the future of this building which is under question now, because some of the members of the community are against it, because it represents the totalitarian past, but also for the discussion about the uncomfortable heritage and the collective memory of the imperial and Soviet past.
https://constructivism-kharkiv.com/personalii/pryvydy-khoda-filter/khoda-constructivism
Project outcomes
-A discussion on rethinking the Soviet architectural heritage among the non-expert community was introduced
-A methodology for working with the complex past through visual sources was developed
-The possibility of integrating family history into the grand narrative is shown