Symphony of Donbas is a derivative of the documentary film with the same name, a project in progress by the author Elena Rubashevska. Following the structure of a symphony, the documentary presents the story of the industrial heritage of Donbas in four subchapters, that highlight four main natural/industrial treasures of Ukraine: The story of chalk, The story of salt, The story of coal and The story of metal.

Within the Moving Fireplaces Festival 2023, Symphony of Donbas proposes to the public a multimedia installation comprising four elements, which present the stories gathered by the author during the research journeys in Donbass, inviting the participants to discover the unique identity of the region that is often stigmatized. The images presented within the project have been caught during the author’s last visit in Donbas, right before the outbreak of the war in Ukraine. Today, many of the places presented in Elena Rubashevska’s images no longer exist.

The installation can be visited between 15 – 30 September 2023.

Artist talk with Elena Rubashevska: 15 September 2023, h 19:00.

Trailer of the documentary film Symphony of Donbas:

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Cities, countries, continents… Was I dreaming that once I had a home?
Elena Rubashevska is a film director and is currently displaced from her home country – Ukraine. Since 2014, when she first lost her home, she metaphorically calls herself ”tumbleweed” and she’s trying to rediscover the sense of her lost identity, which continues to slip away.