The international art project “KAZKY: Fairytales of Ukrainian Children” will premiere in Lynn, Massachusetts, bringing together contemporary music, video art, and works by young artists from Kharkiv. The project aims to draw attention to the creativity of Ukrainian children who continue to live and study under wartime conditions.
This was reported by the Soundscape Visions.
The premiere will take place on September 26 at 7:30 p.m. at Washington Street Baptist Church in Lynn. Admission will be free, although organizers are asking attendees to register in advance.
The KAZKY project grew out of a collaboration between Soundscape Visions, an ensemble specializing in contemporary music and visual art, and Aza Nizi Maza, a children’s art studio in Kharkiv that continues to operate during the war.
The performance is based on large-scale artworks created by children as part of the “Lost Fairytales” and “Underground Garden” series. Through a combination of electroacoustic music, video art, and visual storytelling, these paintings will take on a new life on stage.
Soundscape Visions co-founder Alexander Vavilov noted that the creative principles of the ensemble and the Ukrainian studio have much in common.
“The studio creates an environment that allows children to bring in their own ideas and find their own ways into the work. We do something similar with our music: we create a certain structure that leaves room for improvisation and allows performers to make their own unique contribution,” he said.
The Aza Nizi Maza art studio, led by artistic director Mykola Kolomiets, operates in a basement in Kharkiv that also serves as a bomb shelter. Despite constant Russian attacks, the studio remains a space for creativity, inclusion, and support for children.
According to Mykola Kolomiets, the new collaboration makes it possible to present the children’s artwork in an entirely different dimension.
“I was fascinated by the idea that our paintings could become the basis for an artistic narrative with music and visual imagery. We were happy to collaborate again and offered our ‘Lost Fairytales’ and ‘Underground Garden’ series as sources of inspiration. Everyone who looks at these paintings will see something of their own in them—and that is exactly what we wanted,” the artist said.
The musical production will feature Alexander Vavilov on electroacoustic viola, Ara Sarkissian on piano, and Rafael Popper-Kaizer on cello. The visual component was created by artist François-Xavier de Costerd, who transformed individual elements of the children’s paintings into an animated artistic narrative.
“What interests me in this collaboration is that the artwork is contemporary, Ukrainian, and created by kids,” Vavilov says. “If you didn’t know where it came from or that it was made by children, you would still be moved by it. One might expect darkness or hopelessness, but that’s not what we get from this artwork. There’s something to be said about the guidance that a younger generation offers us from an extreme place…a place where the non-essential falls away, and what’s left are the things that matter most.”
The central works in the performance will be “The Resurrecting Heart” and “Sisyphus/Angel of the City,” around which a twelve-minute musical composition has been built.
In addition to the artistic program, the event will highlight the work of the charitable initiative Common Man for Ukraine. Since the beginning of the full-scale war, the organization has delivered more than 4 million pounds of food, 10,000 sleeping bags, hundreds of generators, and $4.5 million worth of humanitarian aid to Ukraine. It also organizes an annual psychological support program for Ukrainian children who have lost parents because of the war.
Project partners include the Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute, Ukrainian American Educational Center of Boston, Creative County, Mass Cultural Council, Creative Collective, Ukraine Forward, Winchester Community Music School, Arpeggione, and Lynn Cultural Council.
Organizers emphasize that KAZKY is not only an artistic event, but also an opportunity to show the world the power of Ukrainian children’s creativity—children who continue to dream, create, and inspire others even in wartime.
Background
Soundscape Visions is a regional performing ensemble based in Lynn that creates live audiovisual performances in which original electroacoustic music enters into dialogue with immersive video art.
The ensemble uses live musical interaction and improvisation, allowing performers to respond to one another and to the visual material in real time. The group’s work evolved from improvisational performances during the pandemic into carefully designed compositions exploring themes of social justice and the environment, while preserving the immediacy and unpredictability of live music-making.
Aza Nizi Maza is a youth art studio in Kharkiv, Ukraine, led by artistic director Mykola Kolomiets. The studio operates in a basement that also serves as a bomb shelter during the ongoing war, providing children with a space for creativity and artistic exploration amid the realities of war.
Its large-scale collaborative works have been presented internationally in galleries, museums, and public installations. Among its projects are murals created by neurodivergent students for the Babyn Yar Memorial in Kyiv. The studio and its work will also be the subject of an upcoming feature-length documentary.
Mykola Kolomiets was recently recognized by the Ukrainian media outlet Ukrainska Pravda and included in its UP100 — 100 Leading Figures of Ukraine list.
Photo: soundscapevisions.org/kazky
Author: Inna Mikhno