On the weekend of the 18th of November, the Jam Factory has opened its doors in the midst of Russia’s brutal full-scale invasion. The building, a former industrial neo-gothic building located in the Pidzamche district of Lviv, initially served as the “Kronik and Son” alcohol factory dating back to 1872, and later repurposed as a processing base for vegetables and fruits. For a decade, the building has fallen into neglect before grassroots artist initiatives emerged to revive it. In 2015, the site was acquired by Harald Binder Cultural Enterprises, initiating its transformation into a contemporary art centre. Binder, who showed us around the premises, told us about the Jewish history of the building and its surroundings, having tried to locate the descendants of the people who have lived there in the 1800s. Unfortunately, it seems there are no descendants alive, though Binder hasn’t given up hope and continues his research.
After eight years of working on the building and being confronted with a global pandemic, as well as russia’s full scale invasion, Jam Factory has finally opened its doors with the exhibition “Our Years, Our Words, Our Losses, Our Searches, Our Us”, curated by Kateryna Iakovlenko, Natalia Matsenko, and Borys Filonenko. And even though, we weren’t lucky with the weather (“It never rains in Lviv”, said Binder at the press conference) the building still looked glorious emitting the same charm as the centre of the city, which can only be described as an open air museum.
“Our Years, Our Words, Our Losses, Our Searches, Our Us” asks what role art plays during war, particularly the illegal, brutal invasion two years ago. It explores the prolonged impact, reaching back to events such as the illegal occupation of Crimea, the war that started in 2014 in the eastern regions of Ukraine, as well as the country’s historical struggles for freedom. This exhibition explores war as a prolonged experience, bringing about personal transformations. Artists, post-February 2022, reevaluate their practices, embracing new qualities such as routine, testimony, fixation methods, therapeutic potential, and the effects of propaganda. Structured like short stories, the exhibition offers various navigation paths, emphasising the intersection of historical and personal scales. The title challenges the viewer to rethink “our” as a collectively invented concept, echoing the “Prykarpatskyi Teatr” troupe’s workshop.
A fusion of history, tradition, war and love, Jam Factory’s first exhibition embodies emotions almost every Ukrainian has felt since 2014 while also showing resilience and incredible strength. On the ground floor, works by Taras Shevchenko are exhibited, whose works, celebrated in Ukraine, stand as a lasting tribute to the nation’s struggles and sacrifices in the pursuit of freedom and independence. His poetry and art continue to be revered, serving as a poignant reminder of the enduring spirit of the Ukrainian people. One of his works on show at Jam Factory also appears in his novella “Twins” and poem “Behind God’s Door Lay an Axe”. For Shevchenko, nature personified political resistance and freedom, while reminding him of his home – the Cherkasy Region – which, at the time, remained under the yoke of Tsarist russia.
Besides impressive oil paintings, the exhibition also features contemporary works showing the effects of war on the population, with one of my favourite pieces showing a young soldier. The portrait shot by Sasha Maslov is simple, yet says so much – the pain, the resilience, and the senselessness of war. The photo exhibited is of the 27-year-old soldier and musician Timur Dzhafarov, who has already lived three lives. “The lives are so different from each other that sometimes he doesn’t know if he’s gone crazy”, Maslov says about Dzhafarov. Dzhafarov, also known as @johnobject in the Kyiv electronic music scene, enlisted on the 25th of February and has since actively participated in battles in one of the “hottest” spots.
Side note: I can only recommend reading his posts on his Instagram account, even though they’re painful to read.
Another photo, which looked familiar, was the one of an exhibition, which afterwards turned into a house by Livyj Bereh. In September 2022, Livyj Bereh made an exhibition as part of the Theater of Hopes and Expectations in Düsseldorf, Germany. Livyj Bereh created an installation of found architectural elements from buildings destroyed during the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, including parts of window decorations of a house that was damaged during shelling and later restored. The roof of the exhibition also featured traditional folk art items and photos of villages affected by the
war. Livyj Bereh has also presented their re-roofing activity, thus showing not only destruction but also restoration.
Later, the pavilion was disassembled and brought from Germany to Ukraine on the big track. Livyj Bereh and the Theater of Hopes and Expectations began to build a house for a large family in Слобода Кухарська/Sloboda Kucharska village in the Kyiv region. This family consists of grandmother Olena, daughter Inna and three small grandchildren. The girls’ father serves in the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Theater of Hopes and Expectations also finances the construction and purchase of other necessary materials.
You can read more about Livyj Bereh and their projects here.
The exhibition is organised like a collection of stories, with each segment of the journey recounting stories that may intersect, creating a more intricate narrative when combined. Some pieces on display are mere documentations of resistance since the full-scale invasion. In the beginning of the war, Ukrainians have painted over the street-signs, to confuse and disorient the invaders who are illegally moving around the country.
The works mentioned in this article are merely a tiny fraction of the diversity and works in the exhibition. The exhibition has several rooms, some of them even acting as bomb shelters in case there are air raid alarms. The exhibition as well as Lviv remind us, that the war is far from over and that even though, we have to prepare ourselves for a long war, Ukraine’s strength and resistance isn’t budging. They’re not only fighting for their own sovereignty, but our’s as well. Their sacrifices and losses are huge, yet they’re not giving up, as the alternative looks much bleaker than the present.
If you happen to visit Lviv in the near future, be sure to check out the @jamfactory.artcenter on Bohdana Khmel’nyts’koho St, 124. Check out their programme and more info on the current exhibitions, as well as other projects on their website here.
