Light of Freedom Defeats Darkness

Yaroslav Vedmid - Idea Owner, Postmen Anna Seniuk - Creative Director, Postmen Iryna Pavlova - Art Director, Postmen Oksana Shcherbakova - Art Director Hanna Savchuk - Account Director, Postmen Yevhenii Stasinevych - Curator/Literature expert Olga Mykhalets - Producer/Director, Postmen Nastia Ishchenko - Project Manager Yevgen Pryshchepa - Technical Director, Postmen Igor Bondarenko - Sound Designer, Postmen Dmytro Denyshchyk - Graphic Designer, Postmen Mykola Sorokin - Graphic Designer, Postmen Alina Kotina - Account Manager, Postmen Alina Sandul - PR Manager, Postmen Daria Tarasevych - Copywriter, Postmen Maria Kararkevich - Copywriter, Postmen

For the 300th anniversary of the Ukrainian philosopher Hryhorii Skovoroda, the Ministry of Culture of Ukraine aimed to reboot the perception and knowledge of the famous Ukrainian thinker and to create an offline event to celebrate Skovoroda despite the russian war in Ukraine.   Regular shelling of critical infrastructure left Ukrainian cities without electricity. We created the first exhibition in the world that is not afraid of blackouts. The exhibition allowed visitors to explore ideas of the philosopher through personal experience. “Light of freedom defeats darkness” became a message of a branded campaign and a live exhibition in the Ukraine’s capital Kyiv to remind the nation the enlightening ideas of Skovoroda that helped Ukraine to overcome dark times 300 years ago and are extremely relevant today. The exposition was designed as a journey through the baroque garden, paths were expositional navigation allowing one to choose own routes to explore ideas, life and the historical time of the philosopher. The exhibition was built with a creative use of luminescent and light-reflecting materials and the scenography of the Dark Tours was built around the visitors' use of flashlights, which illuminated the key meanings and artefacts of the exhibition with help of the curator. Each visitor could also supplement the exposition with their own light projections using prepared stencils. The central figure of the exposition was a surviving statue of Hryhorii Skovoroda from the museum destroyed by russians, supported by two VR videos of the museum before and after it was hit by missiles. Results:   - more than 15,000 visitors saw the exhibition, which lasted 8 days; - 89% of visitors confidently recommended visiting the "The World of Skovoroda" exhibition to friends  - 55% of them admitted that their belief that freedom will conquer darkness was strengthened after visiting the exhibition - 5 hours of curated tours, some of which were exclusive dark tours   - 518 candles and flashlights were used in the exhibition   - in cooperation with the Ukrainian brand Creative Depo, an exclusive merch of t-shirts and hoodies with a reflective print was released;   - more than 20,000 mentions of Hryhorii Skovoroda in social networks and more than 5,000 mentions of the "The World of Skovoroda" exposition.