Allianz Kulturstiftung and Outernational, in cooperation with Akademie der Künste Berlin, have organized an event in solidarity with Ukraine: Our thoughts are with all those who are suffering from this war – both inside and outside the country. A war against Ukraine is a war against Europe.
As Allianz Kulturstiftung, we have been standing up for social cohesion in Europe for the past twenty years. Together, we are committed to peaceful coexistence and open societies. We want to send a clear signal of solidarity and call for donations.
The focus of the evening was the Outernational concert Songs of Wounding, created by the Ukrainian singer Mariana Sadovska. In an extensive research project, Sadovska created audio recordings in Ukrainian villages and explored various singing techniques that have been forgotten in the country’s collective memory. The composer Max Andrzejewski set these to music in close dialogue with Sadovska.
The singers Ganna Gryniva and Viktoria Leléka performed further Ukrainian songs. Alongside literary and artistic voices from the region and Germany such as Navid Kermani, we were taking a stand for cross-border solidarity! Following the concert, Berlin's Senator for Culture and Europe Klaus Lederer discussed funding opportunities for artists in exile with Esra Kücük, managing director of the Allianz Kulturstiftung, and the activist and conductor Vitali Alekseenok. The associations n-ost and Ukraine-Hilfe Berlin shortly presented their work.
Approximately 400 guests were present at the solidarity concert.