3 questions with Yustyna Kravchuk
Villa Araucaria is an active venue of Avtonomi Akadimia launched in 2021 when an entire semester was dedicated to the tree Araucaria growing in the center of the inner yard. Beyond the Akadimia’s program, the first year of the Villa Arauraria’s existence hosted a renowned feminist project Room to Bloom (RtB) with European Alternatives and AthenSYN, of which Joulia Strauss had pleasure to curate an ecofeminist part, inviting Indian and Colombian shamanesses to teach.
The participants of these workshops have developed a relationship with the place which goes far beyond the logic of cultural funding. A solidarity network around the RtB has therefore been able to convert the villa into a refuge for Ukrainian artists and activists. The residents in 2022 and early 2023 were Natalka Diachenko, Anna Ivchenko, Yustyna Kravchuk, Maria Mayor, Anna Nasina, Alina Nealina, Olga Papash, Nastey Teor.
3 questions with Yustyna Kravchuk
1.what made you apply to the residency?
Since Russia launched its full-scale war against Ukraine, the artistic residencies – be it abroad or in the rear areas of Ukraine – have become, for the Ukrainian artists and cultural workers, one of the few opportunities to continue their practice despite the experiences of trauma and displacement. I applied for the residency in the situation of uncertainty caused by warfare after I decided to move out of Kyiv, the city where I lived and worked for fifteen years.
2. how has been the experience and the main results for you from a personal and professional point of view?
The Room to Bloom residency gave me enough time and space to explore and engage with Athens, its activist community, and its vibrant cultural scene. The antagonistic environment of the city is inspiring for the artists, yet demonstrates an urgent need for grassroots mobilization in defense of public spaces and independent cultural initiatives.
3. how would you like the programme to continue and what's been next for you after it?
The temporary residency space has become a permanent home for me. I settled in Athens to further contribute to the residency programme as a curator. I want the next edition to focus on experimental music, which has been my primary field of interest and work for the last few years.
The temporary residency has now taken a hybrid form between a permanent home of some of the initial residency participants, as well as a residency space, a form of protest against touristic extraction, and an affordable place for the international cultural workers and activists to stay and engage with Athens. Villa Araucaria’s junglish premises are a venue for screenings, parties, talks, and other actions, with a strong focus on ecofeminism and solidarity with Ukraine.