Louis Armand, Lyana Mytsko Existence Is Resistance

Annotation

The word “samizdat” appropriates the Soviet expression for “self-publishing,” used in the past to refer to the underground production of prohibited or regime-critical texts. Today, “samizdat” continues to be a form of resistance-by-existence: literally “self” publishing – assertions of “being” through private & public actions, zine-making, broadcasting, performance, graffiti & other ephemeral, site-specific means. In the face of war, genocide & other existential forms of oppression, the refusal to be “erased” may represent the ultimate act of resistance, in the awareness that NOTHING ELSE NEED BE EXPECTED OF IT. In this, it radicalises the old idea of aesthetic autonomy, the liberty of those who – even by a momentary act – do not vanish. Documenting the war-time cultural resistance in Ukraine, this collaborative volume features photography, video stills, texts & interviews by Louis Armand, Tyko Say, Sandra Pasławska, Lyana Mytsko, David Vichnar, Yaryna Shumska, Andrii Linik, Oxana Demych, Bogdana Brylynska, Katya Hrytseva, Eduard Robe, Sashko Naumenko, Igor Maklay, Khrystyna Kovalyshyn, Grigory Semenchuk, Fredric Molund.