Kharkiv artists in the Russian-Ukrainian war
Authors: Shchepakin V. 
Published: December 2022

Aspects of the creative activity of representatives of the artistic environment of front-line Kharkiv were analyzed. Its main directions and fields are considered, concrete examples of concerts, festivals, and creative meetings both offline and online are given. The names of numerous participants of these creative actions that took place in the city during the period from the beginning of full-scale Russian aggression to the end of October 2022 are given. With the beginning of the full-scale war of the Russian Federation against Ukraine, the country as a whole, and especially the front-line Kharkiv, faced an urgent task not only to preserve independence, but also to resist the brutal attack of the aggressor, to preserve its own rich cultural and artistic heritage. Numerous Kharkiv artists played a big role in this: musicians, artists, poets and writers, actors, etc.

The purpose of the article: to analyze the versatile activity of creative people during the Russian-Ukrainian war.

The methodology: we applied the cooperative method and the induction method in this paper.

The results. The tragic and, at the same time, heroic events of the full-scale Russian-Ukrainian war stimulated a huge burst of creative activity in many representatives of the artistic sphere of activity, because any creative person in extreme conditions of life seeks and finds the realization of his feelings, sensations from what he saw and experienced acutely in new compositions, paintings, poems, tapes, projects. Difficult living conditions in the front-line city for many months provoked and determined the search by creative people for new forms and means of implementing their ideas and plans. Artists are increasingly actively using various forms of online communication with potential audiences. But in addition to online projects, in a slightly transformed form, artists in various fields also implement numerous offline actions. Currently, the characteristic features of these actions are: most often the smallness of the composition of performers and, compared to the pre-war cultural and artistic life, small premises where creative events take place, creativity in the use of these premises, forms of information dissemination about such events, the prevalence of domestic authors in concert programs, the use of topical texts and plots, and, perhaps most importantly, the huge thirst of artists for self-realization. The vast majority of them have a charitable purpose: it is no coincidence that in the announcements of such events, as a rule, instead of the usual ticket price, it is stated: “any donation”. Thanks to such creative actions, considerable sums are constantly collected for the needs of Ukrainian defenders, which brings us all closer to Victory.

Prospects for further research. Cultural life in the city continues and, despite daily deadly challenges, is enriched, acquiring new meaning and new shades, which is a symbolic confirmation of the indomitability of Kharkiv as a powerful eastern cultural outpost of Ukraine in the victorious struggle against the soulless Russian aggressor. A deeper understanding of the artistic processes currently taking place in Kharkiv, as well as in all regions of Ukraine not occupied by the enemy, will eventually lead to a scientific generalization of their common features, among which we can already highlight the active promotion of Ukrainian spiritual heritage and cultural innovations, the mobility and creativity of artists and creative collectives in adapting to the specific conditions of one or another creative action, altruism of all participants in creative events. The accumulation of specific facts of the creative life of Kharkiv and the whole of Ukraine, with further understanding and in-depth analysis of the events we are witnessing, will lead to a deeper understanding of the historical and cultural processes in which our Motherland and each of its citizens are now, because along with military cultural resistance to the aggressor is no less important and relevant.