What do corruption and a lizard have in common? What is a nightmare of corrupt official? How do the Special Forces of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) operate? What does a 30,000 Euro statue look like?
The answers to these questions and more await you in “Corruption Park”, which opens in Kyiv’s Hryshko National Botanical Garden on June 1st. “Corruption Park” is a project funded by the EU Anti-Corruption Initiative in Ukraine.
“The EU remains committed to supporting the fight against corruption in Ukraine, first and foremost through the creation of new specialized institutions. Ukraine’s next important step will be the setup of the High Anti-Corruption Court. At the same time, the EU Anti-Corruption Initiative is engaged in a large-scale awareness raising campaign, which includes also this Corruption Park”, – said Hugues Mingarelli, EU Ambassador to Ukraine.
“For Ukraine to realise its ambition of becoming a resilient, prosperous and well-functioning European democracy, it must effectively address the pervasive problems of corruption. Denmark is proud to assist in these efforts inter alia through our support to the EU Anti-Corruption Initiative (EUACI). The people of Ukraine have a very important role to play, and I am confident that the Corruption Park can assist in raising public awareness and mobilise broader support for the fight against corruption”, – said Ruben Madsen, Ambassador of Denmark to Ukraine.
While “Corruption Park” is operational, you will be able to experience the following:
- 9 inflatable domes, covering an area of 700 square meters, including exhibits such as: a 100-meter long, golden loaf of bread, the silver-colored “Corruption Room”, the 3-story-high “Corruption Fight” dome, which shows visitors ways of fighting corruption in Ukraine and around the world, and finally a walk into a translucent space called, “The Country we have dreamed of”.
From above, the park has the shape of a lizard in the process of growing a new tail, a symbol that is lost on no one. Closer up, the domes resemble soap bubbles, representing the empty promises which accompany corruption.
- Learn the history of corruption:
Corruption is one of the oldest phenomena on earth. In “Corruption Park”, you will be able to learn how even the ancient Sumerians fought against corruption, or how corrupt officials were punished in Babylon and Egypt. You will learn how corruption destroyed the Ottoman Empire, and how hundreds of thousands of people went bankrupt during the construction of the Panama Canal. Visitors will be able to see real-life Roman coins, as well as Zimbabwean trillion-dollar bills – a symbol of one of the largest inflation crises in human history.
- Enter into Virtual Reality and conduct a search:
One dome is dedicated to the work of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) and other specialized anticorruption forces. Here, visitors will find a virtual reality helmet. Once you put it on, you will be given joysticks, and then find yourself in a virtual investigation, where you’ll need to conduct a search, find evidence, proof of corruption, and arrest the suspect. The Virtual Reality was developed by the Ukrainian company Lookinar with the technical support of the VR HUB.
- See artifacts collected by anti-corruption bodies:
A one-of-a-kind car, a tank engine, a 30,000 Euro statue of a bird, and more. In the “Corruption Fight” dome, you will be able to see objects of luxury that were owned by corrupt officials until just yesterday.
- Explore the “Corruption Room” and “A Corrupt Official’s Nightmare” interactive domes:
Each item in these rooms is interactive, and each has its own story. From a gun that actually shoots and a burning fire place, to a book titled “Black Accounting”, each item has information waiting to be manifested, if you just reach out for it.
- Learn how anti-corruption bodies operate:
In the “Secret Power” room, you will see a full NABU Special Forces uniform, which includes a 16-kilogram bulletproof vest, a 40-kilogram shield, and tools they use to monitor corrupt officials. You will also be able to take a test and find out where or not you qualify to work as a NABU agent.
- Visit a secret laboratory on the NABU Special Forces Base:
Thanks to Virtual Reality, you’ll be able to go where no civilian has been before. Once you put on a VR helmet, you’ll be transported to a laboratory, where NABU Special Forces work to retrieve information from cell phones, even if the information has been deleted, or if someone tried to destroy the phone. Find out how detectives work, and how they train Special Forces.
- Discover the most striking examples of the fight against corruption from around the world:
Romania, Singapore, Poland, Georgia, or Hong Kong. We have examples to learn from! In the “Corruption Fight” dome, you’ll be able to see signs and insignia of anti-corruption bodies and organizations worldwide. The center of this dome is dedicated to Ukraine, and to those fighting high-level corruption here. You’ll learn what NABU and SAP, and ARMA are, and why it is vital an anti-corruption court be created. Furthermore, you’ll be able to take a test and guess how much money anti-corruption bodies have seized from corrupt officials and learn creative ways of fighting corruption.
- Defeat corruption:
In the center of “Corruption Park” stands a statue of a corrupt official. At six meters tall, the statue rises above all the domes in the park and will fall only when 8 visitors come together to bring it down. To achieve this, visitors will need to find 8 buttons scattered throughout the park, and once they’re all collected, the statue will “fall”.
- Imagine Ukraine without corruption:
In the “Country We Have Dreamed of” dome, you’ll be able to see not only a 40-meter painting by Alexandra Zhumaylova representing what Ukraine could look like without corruption, and hear the dreams of famous Ukrainians about the future of the country, but also record your own vision. Guests’ recordings will be updated every week, so come to the park a second time to hear your dream for yourself!
The aim of “Corruption Park” is to bring society’s attention to the theme of top-level through hands-on-experience and edutainment storytelling. The installation will be open for three weeks, and entrance is free. In order to get access to “Corruption Park”, you will need to buy a ticket to the Hryshko National Botanical Garden, which costs 50 Hryvnias. All the money collected from ticket purchases will go to the development of the botanical garden.
On June, 1st “Corruption Park” will work from 10:00 to 16:00. Starting from June, 2 and till June, 17 the Park will start work in the usual mode: Tuesday – Friday from 10:00 to 20:00, Saturday – Sunday from 09:00 to 20:00. Monday is day off.
Find out more about “Corruption Park” and news related to it on our Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/CorruptionPark
