The rocky mountains that brought wealth to the city of Schwaz and its inhabitants with their silver reserves and were exploited by them, leaving only the ghost of silver mines. The Ukrainian steppes, which hide coal deposits in their depths, and made the Donbas one of the most profitable regions of Eastern Europe, exploited to this day by the colonialist aspirations of the neighboring country, claiming as many lives as the unbearable working conditions of Soviet miners. The myth of the Donbas, the ghost of the Stakhanovist miners' movement, still shapes the image of the region.

What do these two ghosts have in common? How do the unprocessed remnants of the past – both visible, like slag heaps, and invisible, like abandoned mines – affect the respective societies?

Alina Panasenko, an artist from eastern Ukraine and currently artist in residence in Schwaz, places these questions at the center of her artistic research, which she conducted during her one-month stay in Schwaz. The history of mining has a very personal dimension for the artist, who grew up in the industrial landscape of the Donbas. In the framework of the event on April 27, her film Teatralna Station (2022) will be shown. During the subsequent artist talk, moderated by Iryna Kurhanska (Office Ukraine Innsbruck), Alina Panasenko will talk about her research in the Silver City and the resulting artistic project, as well as about the limits and possibilities of the outside perspective.

The event concludes the artist in residence program of the city of Schwaz and is organized in cooperation with Office Ukraine (Innsbruck). The event will be held in English. 

Alina PANASENKO (b. 2000) is a Ukrainian director and photographer from Severodonetsk (Luhansk region). Currently based in Kyiv, the artist, who also experiments with other media, is the director and screenwriter of the short films Teatralna Station (2022) and 20-11-7.mp4 (2021). The latter won at the Molodist KIFF in the category of best national short film. Alina's photographic works have been shown in ten group exhibitions in Ukraine, Austria, Germany, and Georgia. She participated in the Nuremberg Residency for photographers (Germany) and Zachęta Art Residency (Poland). In spring 2023 she was selected as artist in residence of the city of Schwaz (Austria).

Iryna KURHANSKA was born in Kyiv in 1995. She studied Literature and Cultural Studies at Kyiv-Mohyla Academy. She worked as a curator assistant for YaGallery Art Center (Kyiv, Ukraine), which focuses on contemporary Ukrainian art. She was involved in creating a permanent exposition of the state museum dedicated to the Soviet occupation of Ukraine (National Museum of the Holodomor-Genocide) as a researcher and curator. Since April 2022, Iryna has been working for Office Ukraine Innsbruck.

Image © Alina Panasenko