Vadim Fedorov & Sergiy Kononenko – Ruins of Oblivion
Traces of the Black Sea Germans in Southern Ukraine
The great emigration movement of Germans to Russia and southern Ukraine began during the reigns of Catherine II and Alexander I and lasted until the beginning of the 20th century. In southern Ukraine, the settlement areas of the so-called Black Sea Germans emerged. In the valley of the Berezan River, cult objects of German culture can still be found, but they are increasingly decaying and turning into ruins from year to year. In 2021, Ukrainian photographers Sergiy Kononenko and Vadim Fedorov visited severeal villages – former German colonies – in the Mykolayiv region. Other German settlements are located in the Donetsk and Kherson regions and in the region around Mariupol. Their fate is currently unknown, as these areas are occupied by Russian troops and fighting is taking place in most of them.
Vadim Fedorov was born on 25 June 1966 in Mykolayiv (Ukraine) and is a trained engineer for radio-optical equipment. He has participated in more than 30 competitions and group exhibitions in Ukraine. Fedorov has been a member of the National Union of Photographers of Ukraine since 2018.
Sergiy Kononenko was born on 8 August 1966 in Mykolayiv (Ukraine). He actively participated in the collective urban photo exhibitions “Sport for All”. He currently works in a water supply company as a manager of sewage pumping stations. With the beginning of Russia’s all-out war against Ukraine, he started documenting the destruction of houses and the death of civilians. He has been a member of the National Union of Photographers of Ukraine since 2020.
Curated by Elena Pagel (Russia/Germany) and Irina Guziy (Ukraine/Spain
The Vernissage is part of the Neustadt Art Festivals. This non-commercial art and culture festival is taking place for the 12th time this year. From 22 to 24 September 2023 there will be exhibitions, concerts, readings, performances and much more – all on one weekend in Dresden’s Neustadt – self-organised by representatives of all kinds of art genres and together in a variety of places.
22.09.2023 - 16.01.2024
Vernissage
22. September 2023, 20:00
Part of Neustadt Art Festival and Intercultural Days 2023
extended
Opening hours
Monday till Friday, 10:00 – 16:00
and by arrangement

Galerie nEUROPA
Bautzner Straße 49
01099 Dresden
Access via the store gallery
Contact
0351 / 8113755
galerie@kulturaktiv.org
Gallery team
Jan Oelker
Elena Pagel
Matthias Schumann
Simon Wolf
Virtual exhibitions
Galerie nEUROPA
The gallery nEUROPA emerged from the gallery neue osten in 2017. In the ancestral rooms of the association Kultur Aktiv e.V., it increasingly presents individual positions of international artists and photographers. We invite all interested parties to join us on this exciting journey.
As a showcase for the association’s activities, the gallery presents positions of contemporary photographers from Eastern and Southeastern Europe to the Dresden public. Either the artists come from these countries or they were artistically active there. Some of the exhibitors are showing their works for the first time in Germany.
MAG nEUROPA
Most exhibitions are accompanied by a short print publication – the MAG nEUROPA.