Oksana Kazmina
Photo by Andriy Boyko
Oksana Kazmina is a Ukrainian artist, filmmaker and educator, who works at the intersection of performance and moving image. She is also a participant in the cine-movement and NGO “Freefilmers,” which was originally founded in Mariupol, Ukraine. Since 2015, Kazmina has been working on her debut feature, “Underwater,” which evolved into an online exhibition www.dokvira.cam. Just before the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Kazmina initiated a series of media performances “Contemporary History of Ukraine,” (CHU). Currently, Kazmina teaches video art courses at Syracuse University (USA), and conducts research on ritual and moving image, with focus on the work of Kyiv-born avant-garde artist and filmmaker Maya Deren.
At Middlesbrough Art Festival, Kazmina will present 21st episode of CHU. CHU is a live montage of audiovisual materials from Kazmina's personal archives, including footage from Kyiv’s underground art and music scene of the past decade, film expeditions to Eastern Ukraine with cine-movement and NGO Freefilmers, maps, microscopic imaging of Kazmina’s biome, and more.