How To Set Your Signs On Fire
Fundraiser for Ukrainian arts and artists
2 April 2022 at W139, Amsterdam
On Saturday 2 April W139 will host a fundraiser initiated by Ukrainian artists to support the Ukrainian art scene. How To Set Your Signs on Fire is a mixed event with performances, interviews, DJ’s. Above all, it is a call to action to support endangered Ukrainian art and artists through protest signs and donations.
On Wednesday 23 March a museum in Mariupol containing works of the 19th-century artist Arkhip Kuindzhi was demolished. Earlier on in the war, a large collection of works by Ukrainian folk artist Maria Primachenko nearby Kyiv was destroyed, and Donetsk Regional Drama Theatre was swept away, killing hundreds of civilians who were inside seeking shelter. For Ukrainian artists Nikolay Karabinovych and Sophia Bulgakova, who are the initiators for the Fundraiser in W139, it is unbearable to witness what is happening in their home country and to see how culture is attacked. ‘Behind each artwork is the fate of a particular human being’, Nikolay says. ‘Helping Ukrainian art to survive – is a necessary effort.’
All proceeds of the fundraiser event will go to the Museum Crisis Center and the Ukrainian Emergency Art Fund. Besides music, food, and art, there will be a live (online) interview with Olha Honchar in Lviv, director of the Territory of Terror Museum about the position of art and artists in Ukraine.
The day will kick off at 13:00 hrs with a protest sign making workshop led by Ukrainian artists and activists Sophia Bulgakova, Nikolay Karabinovych, Christopher Pugmire and Valeriia Lukashenko. At 17:00 hrs this workshop hits the streets and the freshly made signs will be showcased at Dam Square in Amsterdam where the participants will raise their voice against the Russian war in Ukraine. The protest signs will be auctioned off later on.
From 18:00 visitors can grab a plate of Ukrainian food and join a performative dinner prepared by Sophia Bulgakova & Cemre Deniz Kara at W139. A special edition of the talk show Stampa starts at 19:00 during which representatives from the Ukrainian art scene will be hosted and interviewed, as well as the Dutch Prince Claus Fund, which is currently working hard to preserve Ukrainian art and heritage. From 20:00 hrs onwards expect DJ’s and audiovisual performances by Ukrainian and Netherlands-based artists until midnight. All music and performances are curated by Sophia Bulgakova and FIBER Festival, including (amongst others) performances by Loma Doom (DJ), Mark IJzerman, and Sophia Bulgakova (Live A/V performance.
How To Set Your Signs On Fire is initiated by Sophia Bulgakova and Nikolay Karabinovych and supported by W139, talk show Stampa, Fiber Festival, Lesley Moore, Pictoright, Open Studios and The One Minutes.
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* All proceedings are gathered through the W139 bank account and transferred to the designated organisations and artists in Ukraine.
PROGRAM 2 APRIL
Protest sign making workshop How To Set Your Signs On Fire
13:00-16:00 hrs, W139, Warmoesstraat 139, Amsterdam
A protest sign making workshop led by Ukrainian artists and activists Sophia Bulgakova, Nikolay Karabinovych, Christopher Pugmire & Valeriia Lukashenko.
Free admission, bring your own material.
Showcase How To Set Your Signs On Fire
17:00-18:00 hrs, Dam Square Amsterdam
Show your signs and raise your voice for the Ukrainian people.
Fundraiser How To Set Your Signs On Fire
18:00-24:00 W139, Warmoesstraat 139, Amsterdam
18:00-19:00 Performative dinner by Sophia Bulgakova & Cemre Deniz Kara.
19:00-20:00 talkshow Stampa, including interviews with museum director Olga Honchar, Prince Claus Fund and others.
20:00-00:00 Music & A/V performances by Loma Doom, Mark Ijzerman, Sophia Bulgakova, Karabinovych and more.
Participating artists
Anna Zvyagintseva, Anton Shebetko, Nikolay Karabinovych, Anna Khvyl, Ute Kilter, Anatoly Belov, AntiGonna and Boris Medvedev
Admission (donation) EUR 5 from 18:00 hrs onwards. No presale, tickets at the door.
