kolo nas #9 victoria stakh and anka sereda

kolo nas #9 took place at gallery ra on friday july 9, 2004. two ukrainian writers read at the event: victoria stakh and anka sereda. victoria read her long poem "period" as well as several shorter poems. anka read several short prose pieces and donned appropriate hats which she made especially for the performance.

victoria, who lives in kyiv, was very active in the literary scenes during the early and mid 1990s. she edited a number of anothologies then, including the notorious white book, the first book of ukrainian erotic poetry. virlana tkacz and wanda phipps translated a number of her poems and several such as "ode to the brain" and "enough" were popular at yara's poetry performances and theatre workshops at harvard.

anka sereda, whose real name is anna kyrpan, lives in ivano-frankivsk, and is a performance artist, as well as writer. she wrote the famous "i don't want to be a poet/ i don't want to be an artist/or even a poet/ i'd rather be sauerkraut", which inspired a number of great performances at yara events and harvard. it was also the inspiration for the unforgetable poetry installation "preserving ukrainian culture" which caused such as scandal at the ukrainian institute. The installation featured a row of jars with sauerkraut, carrots and little porcelian ukrainian dancing dolls, kozaks and bandurists.

ra gallery was again filled with an appreciative audience that listened to the short presentaitons and admired anka's hats. afterwards there was a very pleasant discussion over some wine and cheese. the event also served as a send off party for one of the organizers of the kolo nas events, svitlana matvienko. she the following week on a fulbright schholarship for america, where she will be doing her phd in literature. next day anka and victoria read more poems outdoors in the outskirts of kyiv

Yara Arts Group
306 East 11th St., #3B
New York, NY 10003 USA

Phone/Fax: 212-475-6474
Email Virlana Tkacz at: yara@prodigy.net

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