When the Swiss film director Marc Wilkins hears the phrase “Kyiv is the new Berlin,” it doesn’t make him happy.
“Kyiv is the new Kyiv. It’s the result of much more courage, hard work, and visionary power,” he says.
Wilkins, 42, lived in Berlin for seven years. The city, which reinvented itself after the fall of the Berlin Wall, had the support of its prosperous Western part. Kyiv, Wilkins says, has to rely on itself.
“People creating the new Kyiv are doing it basically out of their babushka’s apartment. There are no laws you can trust, no banks that can give you a loan you can actually pay back.”
And yet, in 2017 Wilkins sold his penthouse in Berlin, bought an apartment on his favorite street in Kyiv, and invested into several cultural projects. He was inspired by Kyiv’s new distinct creative cluster.
“Kyiv is inventing something new and unique. Berlin’s identity is anchored in a post-apocalyptic vibe as if the culture is shattered and people are creating with its leftovers. But Kyiv has a perspective to the future,” Wilkins says.
Culture of ‘nyet’
Wilkins first came to Kyiv in 2005. He had just won the prestigious Cannes Golden Lion award and was filming commercials for brands in post-Soviet countries. Kyiv seemed like any another post-Soviet city, where Wilkins faced something he calls the culture of “nyet” — people trying to stop others from doing creative things.
For example, people would tell him “nyet!” meaning “no!” when he tried taking photos at an old parking lot during location scouting, or selfies at a hotel where he was staying.
“At that time in Kyiv, everybody who was just a little bit intelligent and creative wanted to leave. Nobody trusted the future of the country,” he says. “The culture of ‘nyet’ doesn’t allow a country to prosper. Economic and cultural success can happen only in the culture of ‘tak,’ or ‘yes.’”
Swiss film director Marc Wilkins speaks with the Kyiv Post by the window in his apartment overlooking Reitarska Street in Kyiv on Oct. 12, 2018. (Kostyantyn Chernichkin)
Culture of ‘tak’
Wilkins kept coming to Ukraine to film commercials but never stayed long. Not until the EuroMaidan Revolution happened. The 100-day uprising drove President Viktor Yanukovych from power on Feb. 22, 2014.
In a way, the EuroMaidan was against the culture of “nyet.” Ukrainians protested against Yanukovych’s refusal to sign the Ukraine-European Union political and trade association agreement.
Wilkins followed the events from New York and administered a Facebook group where people challenged fake news about Ukraine. In March 2014 he came back and felt the change in things that may seem trivial.
Cafes, bars and co-working-spaces started popping out, founded by young people. Artists, writers, and journalists gathered there — talking, having fun and collaborating. New clothing brands were launched and startups created. Some places would collect money to help Ukrainian soldiers.
“The culture of ‘tak’ was born in the dark nights of the winter between 2013 and 2014,” Wilkins says. “Suddenly, people started to work together, to unite and create new beautiful things. This totally changed my perception of Ukraine and made me want to live here.”
Making Kyiv home
Besides making Kyiv home, Wilkins also buys clothes by Ukrainian designers, such as Sasha Kanevski and Alexandr Melnichenko, and artwork by Ukrainian artists such as Masha Reva.
Wilkins says that the absence of infrastructure for the creative cluster in Ukraine is both a challenge and a blessing. Young Ukrainians have to create everything from scratch, without the benefit of the groundwork laid by the pioneers. But this makes their work more powerful and unique, he says.
To accommodate young talent, Wilkins bought another property on Reitarska, which he is now developing into a commercial art gallery, “The Naked Room.” He says it will be the first gallery to serve the new middle class in Kyiv, which makes it exciting for him.
“If you want to make a new gallery in New York, you need to rip down another gallery, because there are hundreds of them in the city. In Kyiv it’s always a debut, a moment of a premiere,” Wilkins says.
Reitarska, a backstreet in the historical center of Kyiv, has become a setting for civic tensions over a block party and an initiative to save a park territory from privatization. The street is seen here from the window of Marc Wilkins’ apartment on Oct. 12, 2018. (Kostyantyn Chernichkin)
Social activism
Wilkins sees his new home, Reitarska Street, as a model of the battle that rages throughout Ukraine between the cultures of “nyet” and “tak.”
When Yuriy Vakhel, a Kyiv City Council member, sought to prohibit a street block party, Wilkins wrote him an open letter. He defended the entrepreneurs behind the event and urged Vakhel to support the creative class. Vakhel backed down.
Wilkins also used his marketing experience to help protect a park on the street from privatization by people connected to Roman Nasirov and Oles Dovgiy, officials both facing corruption allegations they deny.
Wilkins helped the activists design a stone and a brass plate announcing the creation of Narbut Square in the endangered location. Heorhiy Narbut was an early‑20th-century Ukrainian graphic designer who created Ukraine’s coat of arms, banknotes and lived in that neighborhood.
The activists organized a press conference where Narbut himself gave a speech — or actually, an actor Wilkins cast through his video production team. With these creative moves, the activists hope to establish the endangered location as a public space, making it harder for privatization to conclude.
Wilkins says that his efforts to protect the street and its creative community are a natural defense mechanism that turns on when he sees them being attacked.
“It’s not just because I live on the street and own two properties there,” he says. “It’s because I like the optimism of the people. And how should I say this… It fills me with life and joy to be able to support something I believe in.”
