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19 Sep, 2023
According to official data, since February 24th more that 500 cultural objects and institutions had been damaged, including more than 30 museums. Since March 2022, the Museum Crisis Center, which provides financial assistance to museum staff who stayed in Ukraine and continue their professional activities during the war, and museum institutions, has established a network of cooperation with more than 150 museums, many of which are potential objects of recording. We have peer-to-peer access to more than 850 museum professionals from the most war-affected areas. The Okhtyrka Museum of Local Lore became a pilot episode of the new Wounded Culture project, which has two components: 1) digitalization of cultural heritage using VR technologies; 2) documentation of the experience of museum workers and museums as cultural objects through video interviews with the main actors using the oral history method. The building of the Okhtyrka Museum of Local Lore was severely damaged in the first days of the full-scale Russian invasion: the roof was destroyed, doors and windows were smashed, and the walls were cracked, so the question of whether the building can be restored is still open. The museum lost 84 exhibits out of a collection of 16,000 items. During the expedition to Okhtyrka the team of #wounded_culture project conducted 5 interviews – with the museum director Liudmila Mishchenko, museum’s chef accountant who from the very first days took an active part in the debris removal and evacuation of exhibits, and three of the most active volunteers from Okhtyrka, who were involved in the museum's rescue. Their stories are invaluable for the history of Ukrainian culture and history in general. Two VR tours will be created based on the VR and 360 filming: 1) a sightseeing tour that will convey the scale of the museum, the destruction, and the circumstances under which it happened; 2) a virtual tour of the museum with the museum director, who will talk about the most interesting exhibits from the museum's permanent exhibition.
15 Sep, 2023
The members of the National Expert Council of the Charitable Ukraine national competition awarded the New Museum NGO, which administers the Museum Crisis Center initiative, 1st place in the Charity in Culture and Arts nomination. The award was presented to the communications manager Valya Klymenko.
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