Curators: Kateryna Filyuk and Rachel Rits-Volloch

You Know That You Are Human is a series of exhibitions, created by IZOLYATSIA and curated by Kateryna Filyuk, Ukrainian curator and art critic. Chief Curator at IZOLYATSIA. Platform for cultural initiatives and co-founder of 89 books, Palermo. This, the third edition of the exhibition is part of the Kultursymposium Weimar 2023 hosted by Galerie EIGENHEIM Weimar which features the works of 23 Ukrainian photographers and video works by 10 Berlin-based international artists. It’s a joint undertaking of IZOLYATSIA, Ukraine and MOMENTUM, Berlin. 

You Know That You Are Human premiered in Berlin's Zionskirche at the end of 2022, where it was matched with the group exhibition Points of Resistance V. Catalogue, published on the occasion of the showcase, is available online. The second iteration of the show took place at the gallery in Mürsbach, where it was enriched by the sculptures of the famous Ukrainian dissident artist Vadim Sidur. 

The title of the show is borrowed from a famous poem by one of the brightest Ukrainian poets of the sixties, Vasyl Symonenko, “Ти знаєш, що ти– людина/ You Know that You are a Human”. Part of the official school curriculum in Ukraine, the poem praises life and the uniqueness of each person, urging everyone to cherish every single moment. Today – during Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine – these simple but powerful verses call for humanity, solidarity, trust and cohesion with particular urgency. They remind us once again that despite the elusive monstrosity of war, every life counts. Addressing the topic of Trust formulated by Kultursymposium against the background of growing uncertainty and multiple economic, ecological and political crisis hitting societies around the world, You Know That You Are Human seeks to zoom into a micro level and put forth the individual, the human being. It depicts human likeness in diverse forms, addressing the role that gender, occupation, geography and heritage play in defining the human position in the world.  

The works of the Ukrainian photographers also provide a crucial insight into the changes that had taken place in Ukrainian society since the 1960s, from the years when the dream of socialism gradually proved to be a failure until the last few months of the self-sacrificing struggle of the Ukrainians for their country.

The video works accompanying the exhibition of 60 years of photography from Ukraine address historical and current struggles prevalent throughout humanity — violence, ideology, politics, religion, and the need to find a common language of trust to communicate that we are human.

Featured artists: Valentyn Bo, Aleksander Chekmenev, Maryna Frolova, Oleksander Glyadyelov, Paraska Plytka Horytsvit, Borys Gradov, Alena Grom, Viktor and Sergey Kochetov, Yulia Krivich, Sasha Kurmaz, Viktor Marushchenko, Sergey Melnitchenko, Boris Mikhailov with Mykola Ridnyi, Valeriy Miloserdov, Iryna Pap, Evgeniy Pavlov, Roman Pyatkovka, Natasha Shulte, Synchrodogs, Viktoriia Temnova, Mykola Trokh, Lutz Becker, Thomas Eller, Nezaket Ekici & Shahar Marcus, Mahsa Foroughi, Christian Jankowski, Christian Niccoli, Nina E. Schönefeld, Caroline Shepard, Mariana Vassileva.

The Kultursymposium Weimar is a three day, discursive-artistic festival for new networks and ideas. Every two years, the Goethe-Institut brings together over 500 people from all over the world. It reflects the richness and complexity of urgent social issues with varying focal points from a global perspective, such as the coming edition from 10th to 12th May with the topic trust and as such provides new inspirations for an international cultural exchange. 

More details here. 

Image: Oleksander Glyadyelov, War series, 2022