Kostiantyn Doroshenko / Tie2.lt

Art historian and cultural manager Kateryna Levchenko worked at PinchukArtCentre, Mystetskyi Arsenal, and the Ukrainian Cultural Foundation, and founded 39.9gallery on the fashionable Kyiv street Vozdvyzhenska. Her professional growth highlighted for her the underappreciation of her native Kryvyi Rih, whose perception is overshadowed by several stereotypes: an industrial city with poor ecology, the hometown of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and his “95th Quarter” show project. A year before the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, Ms. Levchenko founded the Kryvyi Rih Center for Contemporary Culture (KRCC). Its activities began already during the hot phase of the war and continue in a city that has become close to the front line.

Today, Kateryna Levchenko is also part of Kyiv’s innovation park for the development of tech companies and startups UNIT.City, and collaborates with the Cultural Diplomacy Foundation. However, our conversation is about the Kryvyi Rih initiative, as the cultural visibility of Ukraine’s regions remains uneven.

Your capital city career was developing dynamically when you decided to redirect your energy toward the development of your hometown. What was behind the decision to create the Kryvyi Rih Center for Contemporary Culture?

For me, a great source of inspiration was working at PinchukArtCentre and Mystetskyi Arsenal. There I saw how contemporary cultural institutions can function, what scale they can reach, and what impact they are capable of having on society. In the capital, there were always many events and initiatives, which contrasted sharply with the situation in Kryvyi Rih. As I gained experience and knowledge, I realized that I had an inner resource to direct toward my hometown and to make its identity visible on the country’s cultural map. It became important for me to create new cultural experiences and new emotions for the residents of Kryvyi Rih — the kind that Kyiv once opened up for me.

That is how the idea of the Kryvyi Rih Center for Contemporary Culture emerged. And although we operate as a small independent NGO, the fact that we manage to exist, develop, and implement a large number of projects in wartime conditions feels like a real miracle to me, and at the same time the result of strong teamwork. I dream that in time KRCC will have resources and opportunities comparable to those of capital-based institutions. However, even today, step by step, we are shaping a new cultural reality of Kryvyi Rih.

Kryvyi Rih has its own cultural continuity. It is associated with the name of the monumental artist Hryhorii Synytsia, whose works had a distinct national character. The writer Hryhorii Husieinov published the literary and art magazine “Courier of Kryvbas” here, which featured authors who later became iconic. What does the city’s cultural heritage mean to you?

I don’t want to “put on a white coat” and I try to be as honest as possible: for a long time, I did not identify with Kryvyi Rih and knew almost nothing about its cultural heritage. Since childhood, I dreamed of leaving the industrial city, and at 17 I moved to Kyiv. There I especially strongly felt the lack of local culture in a broader sense of the term. Even my first vyshyvanka appeared only then. While building my career in the art world, I repeatedly encountered a certain dismissiveness, or rather provocations aimed at making me feel inferior because I come from Kryvyi Rih.

My perception of the city began to change later — particularly with the development of KRCC. At the same time, I want to mention a person whose work influenced me when I was a teenager: Natalia Pohorielova. Her jazz events and concerts shaped my taste. I am sincerely grateful to her for bringing world-class performers to the city despite all the difficulties. Only now do I realize how challenging that must have been.

Looking back, I also see local cultural phenomena differently — the Baobab Theatre or the literary work of Olha Honchar. All of this forms my sense of Kryvyi Rih as a city with a complex cultural fabric, within which there is much to rediscover and reinterpret.

What were the first KRCC art residencies like? How willing were artists to travel to a city that was, in a sense, demonized? How did their perception of Kryvyi Rih change, and how did Kryvyi Rih residents perceive contemporary art?

I implemented the first RUDA Project residency in Kryvyi Rih in 2020 under the 39.9gallery brand. It was a major adventure, as was the next residency in 2021. A Kryvyi Rih entrepreneur offered non-financial support for the project, and together with partners and friends I co-financed all expenses in order to bring artists from different cities across Ukraine. This experience became a turning point for me: it changed my own perception of Kryvyi Rih and shaped a long-term vision for developing similar initiatives.

Importantly, the artists agreed to participate quite easily, despite the stereotypes about the city. It was through their perspective that I began to see Kryvyi Rih as a visually powerful and conceptually interesting space. We also presented exhibitions dedicated to Kryvyi Rih in Kyiv. As a gallerist, I managed to sell some of the works created during the residencies, which signaled genuine interest in the topic.

The Kryvyi Rih audience initially reacted quite cautiously, sometimes with misunderstanding, but through the openness of the events and engaging viewers in dialogue, we gradually saw a shift in this perception. For many residents of Kryvyi Rih, it was their first direct experience of contemporary art. The early residencies became an entry point for rethinking the city — both for external participants and for the local community.

Feminist agenda and women’s leadership are clearly among the directions close both to you and your institution. The 2024 exhibition “Visual Voices of Women” resonated as an all-Ukrainian event. What is important to you about it, and in which other projects do you implement emancipatory themes?

Since Kryvyi Rih is historically closely connected with heavy industry, the city still retains a noticeable influence of a patriarchal worldview and biased attitudes toward women. Throughout my entire career, I have encountered stereotypes as a woman in the art field — from distrust in my expertise to seemingly minor but telling things, such as the assumption that I cannot install exhibitions or perform physical work. At the beginning of my work in Kryvyi Rih, I was often not taken seriously: “just some girl who wants something.”

That is why it is essential for us to work with themes of women’s leadership and emancipation, particularly through the tools of contemporary art. The exhibition “Visual Voices of Women” became a space for the expression and articulation of women’s experience — diverse, complex, and often invisible in public discourse. It brought together women artists speaking about the body, labour, war, care, vulnerability, and strength. It created a polyphonic narrative that resonated far beyond the city.

The KRCC team also implements other initiatives: we conduct training on gender mainstreaming and prevention of gender-based violence, public discussions with women from various sectors of Kryvyi Rih’s economy — from industry to the creative industries. We also have a dedicated feminist season of the podcast “Anatomy of Personality,” where we talk about the experiences, challenges, and strategies of women in contemporary Ukraine. We aim to create an environment in which women’s leadership is visible, legitimate, and supported

When internationally recognized artists come to post-industrial cities, local artists can sometimes end up in their shadow. Are you able to maintain a balance?

Our primary goal is to make Kryvyi Rih visible on Ukraine’s cultural map. That is why we deliberately do not limit ourselves to local geography and involve artists and cultural figures from different cities, including established names. It is a way to create an environment of collaboration, networking, and exchange of experience. What is important is that the presence of invited artists strengthens the visibility of local ones and opens up new dialogues. These interactions tend to happen quite organically.

Kryvyi Rih and its local art community can be interesting in an international context. We do not create hierarchies; instead, we work with the cultural scene as a whole.