Field research in Ukraine

The book by Tomasz Ferenc is based on research material obtained during five trips to Ukraine. The first took place in the summer of 2022 and the last in February 2025.
During this time, the researcher interviewed artists and visited cultural institutions in Lviv, Kyiv and Odessa.

Zobacz, jak było na wernisażu (w galerii znajdują się fotorelacje z kilku wydarzeń organizowanych razem z Festiwalem Mediów Człowiek w Zagrożeniu), przejdź do galerii.

See what the opening ceremony was like (the gallery contains photo reports from several events organised together with the Man in Danger Media Festival)!

Biographical perspective and institutional analysis

The book combines a biographical perspective – following the approach proposed by Fritz Schütze – with an institutional analysis. 
The empirical material consists of over 40 informal interviews, several of which were repeated one or two years apart 
– emphasises Prof. Tomasz Ferenc.

Stages of experiencing war

The book attempts to reconstruct the successive stages of experiencing war, beginning with the period preceding its full-scale impact, through the initial reactions and actions undertaken.
It describes the phenomenon of mass involvement in volunteering and the processes of adaptation to the new reality of war.

Cultural institutions and artistic strategies 

This publication examines the operation of cultural institutions during the conflict and reconstructs the artistic strategies undertaken by artists. 
It highlights the changes occurring with each passing year of the war, the devastating impact of the prolonged crisis, and the sense of exhaustion on the one hand, and the remarkable resilience and perseverance of the Ukrainian elite on the other.

Photographs – documentation of material remains 

Photographs taken by Marek Domański during his travels with Tomasz Ferenc to Lviv, Kyiv, and Odessa constitute an important element of the publication. 
The works presented in the exhibition "Trwoga powietrzna" are documentary in nature and of a forensic aesthetic. 
The photographer assumed that the primary experience of the viewer is perceiving the reality they represent. In other words, what we see is no longer an image of reality, but reality itself. 
The primary and undisputed guarantor of an image's adherence to reality is its creator. As in sociological research, trust in the researcher is the foundation for validating fieldwork accounts.
 

The "stickiness" of war 

War, although it is a total phenomenon – it is always and everywhere – cannot be experienced in its entirety. 
Like any hyperobject, it is "sticky," clinging to everyone and everything. It is non-local, yet people in Ukraine are constantly exposed to its effects through a sense of lack and the need to conceal. 
It is precisely through this lack and concealment that the war in Ukraine affects us. There is shortage of things, people, opportunities... Concealment, however, is a constant practice of everyday life. One must hide by going into a shelter, one must conceal supplies, emotions and plans for an uncertain future. War manifests itself in these photographs through lack, caused by absence or the visible concealment resulting from the need to save people and cultural heritage 
– says Prof. Marek Domański.

Opening days and hours:

• Mondays and Fridays 10:00 a.m. – 7:00 p.m.
• Saturdays 10:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m.
   

The University of Lodz Photophilosophical Archive (underground of the Biedermann’s Palace).