The DRUK Cultural and Civic Center in Kharkiv hasrapidly become one of the key centers of urban culture. Located in a renovatedbuilding of an old printing house, DRUK brings together exhibitions, literaryevents, theater performances, and a gallery under one roof. In times of war,this center not only develops the local art landscape, but also serves as asafe environment for creativity – thanks to the “Artistic Shelter” project,which provides a space for events even during shelling. Its modern role goesbeyond the typical art center: DRUK forms new social ties, supports theUkrainian language and culture, and activates local communities in a front-linecity. It is no wonder that in 2025, DRUK was shortlisted for the “Golden Luke”award from Luke media – an award for initiatives that fill Kharkiv with meaningand life.
The historic building at 10/2 Honchariv Boulevardserved as a printing house for over a century, and today its name, DRUK(“Printing”), has become a symbol of the cultural synergy of Kharkiv’s creativecommunities. A team of like-minded people set out to restore this landmark andturn it into the main cultural center of the historic city district. Despitethe full-scale invasion of 2022, which temporarily suspended the project, workresumed in 2023, and the center welcomed its first residents in early 2024.From the very beginning, DRUK outlined its mission: “to develop culture,support the community, and form communities.” This approach is also noticeableat the level of urban planning - the founders of the center collaborate withurban planners to revitalize the entire neighborhood: the emergence of acultural center creates new pedestrian routes and stimulates the development ofadjacent streets. Thus, DRUK does not act in isolation, but as a catalyst forurban life, involving business, government, cultural organizations andresidents in the joint development of the space.
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One of DRUK's greatest achievements is itsinterdisciplinarity. The center deliberately brought together curators fromdifferent fields - literary, theatrical, musical, urban - to create a vibrantenvironment at the intersection of genres. In DRUK, artists from literature,theater, visual arts and music have found a unifying topos - and they allinteract in a common space, enriching each other's creativity.
• Literature and performance: DRUK has become aplatform for innovative literary events. In particular, literary slams from theLitSlamUA community are held here. In April 2025, it was within the walls ofDRUK that the final “Higher League” of the 2024–2025 season took place – anevening of bold contemporary poetry, half of the funds raised from which weredonated to the needs of the Ukrainian military. Literary SLAM performed byKharkiv residents is not a chamber reading, but a combination of poetry withelements of theater and show. Young poets shock the audience with props,costumes and sharp words, creating a “literary volcano of counterculture”.Performances here can be simultaneously daring, ironic, underground, and duringone of the last slams they even staged an experiment “man vs. ChatGPT”, wherean anonymous participant recited poems generated by artificial intelligence.But in the end, living poetry won – the best slammer of the evening was themilitary poet Oleksandr Kud, whose texts turned out to be more sincere than thecold lines of a neural network. The OPG Post-Theater (Odesa Poetry Gangbang) isanother vivid example of a literary performance at DRUK. This is a Kharkivpunk-futuristic duo that combines poetry, theater, and musical experiment. OPGartists – Vlad Radchenko and Nikita Lyuty – strive to popularize Ukrainianliterature using non-trivial methods. Their work includes the video performance“Industrial Stus”, filmed within the walls of DRUK with the support of theTvorche Nezhyt gallery. In this clip, OPG members appear in the roles of thepoet-sixties Vasyl Stus and the KGB executioner, recreating the drama of Sovietrepressions on the screen – a kind of bridge between the culture of the sixtiesand the present. Such events demonstrate how DRUK combines word and stage tounderstand Ukrainian history and find new forms of expression.
• Theater and community: Among the center’s residentsis the independent amateur theater “Ocheret”, which emerged in Kharkiv duringthe war. The theater calls itself “natural” and has indeed grown organically onthe initiative of caring citizens: actors come to rehearsals after their mainwork, and the management does not leave the case even during shelling andblackouts. “Ocheret” has already staged several plays, including “Arabesques”,“Pole Petal” and the latest “Eternal Nobody”. The latter is a post-documentarydrama created by director Anastasia Koshel based on real diaries and memoirs,which reflects on the memory of trees and people at the sites of historicaltragedies. The premieres of this performance took place at the end of 2024, andin December the official opening of the Ocheret Theater’s own hall on the firstfloor of DRUK took place – an event symbolizing the integration of the theaterinto the common space of the center. Since then, Ocheret has regularly givenperformances at DRUK, making the theater accessible to a wide audience. Andmore, , the collective also organizes public celebrations: in March 2025, theyorganized a Maslenitsa festival right in the center’s courtyard – with a fair,traditional games, songs and rituals. Admission was free (for a voluntarydonation), so everyone could join. Thus, through the theater, DRUK not onlysatisfies the cultural needs of Kharkiv residents, but also strengthens thesense of community unity, returning living traditions to the city even indifficult times.
• Visual arts: Exhibition activities are anothercentral area of DRUK’s activity. The center’s first resident was the TvorcheNezhyt gallery – a well-known Kharkiv art association that has been developingthe local underground for several years. Having moved to a new space, “CreativeUndead” continues to operate as an open platform for exhibitions, filmscreenings, lectures and performances, giving artists freedom of expressionwithout rigid frameworks. In February 2024, the gallery opened its firstexhibition at DRUK – a personal opening of the young artist Andriy Khymernyi“Strange Cities and What’s Beyond Them”. This exhibition started with anauthor’s performance and set the tone for subsequent events. Later, in March, alarge-scale collective exhibition was held under the symbolic name “February31. Memory” – an art project that unfolded not only in the halls of the gallery,but also throughout the center. Any willing artist could join it by bringingtheir own work – a truly democratic approach to the formation of theexhibition. The semiotic highlight of the exhibition was the art objects on amilitary theme: three shell casings painted by Kharkiv artists were exhibitedas a reminder of the realities of war and the power of art to reinterprettraumatic experiences. Through such projects, DRUK demonstrates that visual artin a front-line city can respond to current events and at the same time providespace for creative experimentation. The Tvorche Nezhyt gallery at DRUK hasalready become a platform for the development of a new generation of Kharkivartists, supporting the city’s alternative culture and capturing the spirit ofthe times in their work.
• Music and media art: The modern music scene has alsofound its place at DRUK. The center is home to the Sherhit community, anindependent association of Kharkiv DJs, electronic musicians, and VJs. Thisinitiative arose as a response to the need to develop local electronic music inconditions where traditional clubs are often inaccessible. The residents ofSherhot play in genres from rave and trance techno to ghettotech and neurofunk,and make their events “open” – both in format and location. At DRUK, theyregularly hold open rehearsals and parties, where anyone can attend: both abeginner and an experienced music lover. The goal of Sherhot is to takeelectronic music and visual art beyond the narrow circle of club parties andmake them accessible to everyone. The integration of Sherhot into DRUK islogical: electronic live shows here can be accompanied by art exhibitions,video installations or performances – this is how real interdisciplinarycommunication is born. For Kharkiv residents, Sherhit at DRUK is an opportunityto get acquainted with the modern Ukrainian electronic scene, discover newmeanings on the dance floor and become part of a musical community withoutbarriers.
• Urban direction: DRUK, under the leadership ofViktor Dvornikov, implements initiatives that involve Kharkiv residents in adialogue about urban space. At the end of 2024, the urban direction wasofficially presented during the opening of the “Artistic Shelter”. DRUK alsoserves as a platform for public discussions about the development of the city.In September 2024, an urban weekend was held here with a presentation of the“Parking” project - a modern vision of the renewal of the Lopan embankment.Such events raise urgent issues of urban reconstruction and motivate citizensto jointly create urban space. Viktor Dvornikov is a Kharkiv architect-restorerand curator of the urban direction of DRUK. He focuses on the revival of thehistorical environment: with his participation, the DRUK team restored a formerprinting house, preserving its authenticity as much as possible and adaptingthe space to new cultural functions. The result is the emergence of the“Artistic Shelter”, a multifunctional art space that also serves as an officialbomb shelter. This project showed how urbanism can respond to the challenges ofwar, rethinking architectural heritage as a safe public space. The socialsignificance of the urbanism of DRUK increases in conditions of war. Thecenter’s urban projects activate the city community around the preservation ofurban heritage. The revival of forgotten monuments and the unification of thecommunity around them is a significant act of cultural resilience in conditionsof war. The urban component of DRUK performs an important social function: itinterprets the city space and unites Kharkiv residents in joint actions for thefuture of the city.
By combining such different spheres of art, DRUKperforms an important social role. First of all, the center has become ameeting place for creative youth, experienced artists and the general public.Here at a literary evening you can see a slam poet and a volunteer side byside, on the whist The participants are artists and military personnel, andstudents and teachers at the film screening. Events at DRUK form new socialties in the city: people of different professions and views unite aroundUkrainian culture. It is important that all activities of the center areconducted exclusively in Ukrainian. Today, the Ukrainian language sounds fromthe stage of slams and in the lines of the actors of "Ocheret",affirming the cultural identity of the city. DRUK thus responds to thechallenges of war not only materially (as a shelter), but also ideologically -strengthening the Kharkiv cultural Ukrainian space. In addition, the center hasbecome a center of activism and community support. Many events have acharitable component: funds from tickets or donations are directed to help thearmy or those affected by the war. Artists rethink the trauma of war in theirwork, and viewers, interacting with this art, receive art therapy. The DRUKspace is also open to public initiatives: the founders plan to equip the centerwith an accessible library and offices for non-governmental organizations,creating a real hub for education and volunteering. Thus, art at DRUK isinseparable from the social context – it unites people in the face of commonchallenges.
In less than two years of operation, DRUK has become acultural environment where new meanings and projects are born. It has shown howin a front-line city it is possible to successfully combine different genres ofart, preserve historical heritage and at the same time give impetus to moderncreativity. DRUK has become a place where the underground comes to light andtradition is interpreted in a new way. Its experience shows that despite allthe difficulties of the war, Kharkiv culture lives and develops when there isspace for free communication of artists, when the community feels involved in acommon cause. Today, the DRUK Cultural and Civic Center is an art gallery, ahobby club, and a public platform; a kind of creative ecosystem that renewsitself. The modern role of DRUK in Kharkiv is measured not only by the numberof events held, but also by the depth of its influence on the urban community.The center has united writers, actors, musicians, artists, and urbanists aroundit - everyone who creates a new Ukrainian culture. And this collective creativevoice is increasingly asserting itself, uniting the cultural and symbolic spaceof Kharkiv, in which Ukrainian identity is the basis of the urban community.
Author: Ruslan Kuleshov, editor of DRUK
