Under the Open Sky: A Dinner for Ukraine

#SaveTheDate Berlin – Under the Open Sky: A Dinner for Ukraine! April 12, 2022, 19:00 at Lovis Restaurant, Berlin. “under the open sky” is an ongoing series of events organized to support Ukraine and the Ukrainian people in their brave and painful struggle against Russian military aggression in 2022, and to raise funds for the humanitarian organizations and civilian initiatives currently active in the country affected by war.

book a dinner here! 

“For never has the experience been contradicted more thoroughly: strategic experience has been contravened by positional warfare; economic experience, by the inflation; physical experience, by hunger; moral experiences, by the ruling powers. A generation that had gone to school in horse-drawn streetcars now stood in the open air, amid a landscape in which nothing was the same except the clouds and, at its centre, in a force field of destructive torrents and explosions, the tiny, fragile human body.”

—Walter Benjamin, Experience and Poverty, 1933

It is also an ultimate, factual state of vulnerability, in which the unprotected Ukrainian bodies are being exposed to the shells, bombings and deadly missile attacks coming at them from above. their desperate appeals to NATO in the first days of the war to close the sky over Ukraine until this moment have been left unanswered. since then, dozens of peaceful cities were destroyed, burnt to the ground, millions of people escaped their homes, and thousands were left behind, brutally murdered. most of these bodies are still lying there, unburied, on the streets of their hometowns, under the open sky in their native land, like seeds that would never grow.

now, we all remain under the same sky, and we all share the same danger and same responsibility for these terrible events. after seeing the destruction of civilian shelters and hospitals during the siege in Mariupol, mass murders in Bucha and Irpin, and confirmed killings of more than 150 small children, a world-given promise ‘never again’ seems to be broken. we have to end the war. We have to stop the unlawful and murderous Russian state, by any means possible. and as Ukrainians, who bravely stood and fought together until this day, we all have to stand united against what seems to be one of the greatest evils of the 21st century.

after this war is over, we all hope to come back to our land. we see this day clearly, when we return and join each other in hard work; the cities will be built again, and the fallen seeds will grow. and our beautiful country, our land will rise, once and for all — free and peaceful, under the open sky.

Under the Open Sky:

A Dinner for Ukraine

SOPHIA RUDOLPH & KATERINA EFIMCHUK

April 12, 2022, 19:00

Lovis Restaurant, Berlin

“Dinner for Ukraine is the first of a series of events in support of Ukraine and the people that continue their lives and work in the current war zone. Our first event will be a 4-hands dinner at Lovis Restaurant, where Sophia Rudolph (chef at Lovis, Berlin) and Katerina Efimchuk (chef of Wine Love, Kyiv) will cook together, in support of “Kyiv Volunteer.”

Katerina Efimchuk is a chef at Wine Love in Kyiv, a restaurant that has now turned into a kitchen that feeds 900 people daily. With her work, she is part of a bigger network, “Kyiv Volunteer,” an association of 23 restaurants and cafes in Kyiv, that are providing more than 15 000 portions daily for the Ukrainian defence forces, hospitals, kindergartens, and nursing homes.

For the dinner, Katerina will come to Berlin all the way from Kyiv, cook with Sophia, and return to Kyiv with the donations in hand. The main concept of this dinner is using the same ingredients Katrin uses in her daily meals for Ukrainian defenders but in an elevated plating.”

“War is a test of courage and honesty. Everyone has their own place in this war.  I’m here in my restaurant with my team and the challenge we now face every day is to solve the puzzle of finding food to feed 900 people.

War has no days off, war has no choice and I don’t ask myself any unnecessary questions – I just do what I love, know, and can.  Before the war, my kitchen was a place of experimentation and discovery, a place of products and ingredients that I adored.

Right now, my kitchen is not about experiments, but about efficiency: how to feed as many people as possible, how to make the dishes more nutritious, and how to find ingredients.

Right now, my main experimentation is how to make food feel even warmer and softer.
Right now, my main goal is to provide a sense of security and comfort to those who protect us.

Nothing has changed for me. Only the circumstances. I’m staying here, in my place. And I’ll be in my kitchen as long as I can.”

– Katerina Efimchuk

“For the dinner on April 12th, Wilmina and Design Hotels will cover the cost of the menu, drinks, and staff for the evening.

This means that 100% of your donation will go directly to “Kyiv Volunteers,” the people on the ground in Kyiv.

We have partnered with the non-profit organization Be An Angel e.V. to ensure that your donation is transferred as directly and quickly as possible.”

You will also be able to receive a donation receipt.

If you would like to join us, please:
– register via the link
– donate 200 EUR (this is a recommended minimum, feel free to give more if you can and want)
– send us your payment receipt to [email protected].
– We will then confirm your spot on the guestlist & send you your invitation.

Link for your donation: https://beanangel.direct/spenden/

IMPORTANT: Please type in “Wilmina Ukraine“ as the receiver of your donation.

If you are unable to attend the event but would like to donate to Katerina and “Kyiv Volunteer,” feel free to give however much you can. Every donation, small or large, is needed and appreciated.

Please use the same Be An Angel link and “Wilmina Ukraine” as the name of the receiver. Hosted by Vasily Grogol & Kristina Skripka and Gustava Grüntuch & Gordian Grüntuch in partnership with Design Hotels and Wilmina

We also want to thank our partner Be An Angel e.V.

Design Hotels represents and markets a curated selection of over 300 independent hotels in more than 60 countries across the globe. Bursa Hotel in Kyiv and Wilmina in Berlin are both Design Hotels member hotels.

Exhibition Preview
MASHA REVA & IVAN GRABKO PREVIEW 

Ivan Grabko www.instagram.com/grabkoivan

28 y.o., born in Zaporizhzhya, lives and works in Kyiv.

Education:

—Art College in Dnipro

— National Academy of Fine Arts and Architecture in Kyiv.

Exhibitions:

2019 – Solo show, Independent space, Kyiv.

2019 – group show «Let Us In», gallery Sebastien Lepeuve, Paris.

2020 – group show «That empty shop across the street», gallery Sebastien Lepeuve, Paris.

Ivan’s creative practice includes painting, drawing, sculpture and photography. His artworks are in possession of various private collections around Europe and the US.

“War has permeated my whole life, I see it every morning on the tablecloth, inside my shoes, in the way a child plays with a cat, beyond the peaceful reality threshold, the horror begins on every corner and surface. The image that I only knew about, came to live in front of me. It appears and sticks out of the darkness in which it lives, it feels good and comfortable there.” Ivan Grabko

Masha Reva www.instagram.com/mashareva

Born in Odessa, Ukraine in 1987

Education:

2010 Masters in Fashion Design, Kyiv National University of Technology and Design, Ukraine (Curator of the course: Nadiia Kudriavceva).        

2015 Masters in Womenswear Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design, London, UK. (MA program was curated by Professor Louise Wilson and course director Fabio Piras).

Awards / Showcases

2010 Harper`s Bazaar Fashion Forward, Ukraine, grand prix

2010 “Glance Into The Future” contest, Ukraine, grand prix

2012 WGSN Global Fashion Awards shortlisted among five Emerging Designers

2014 The Pulse Of New Talent by Pepsi x Vogue Italia – grand prix

2014 Shortlisted among 10 international designers to exhibit in Rijksmuseum,

      Amsterdam.

2016 International Fashion Showcase, shortlisted and art direction of Ukrainian installation.

2018 Shortlisted by Vogue Talents,  Milano, Italy.

2018 Dutch Design Week, shortlisted for Ukrainian pavilion.

2018 Work Process, exhibition together with Michael Reva, Bursa Gallery Kyiv

2019 Milan Design Week, shortlisted for Ukrainian pavilion.

2019 Fashion Film Festival Milano, art direction for The Rite, best photography winner.

2019 Elle Decoration awards for best tableware.

Masha is a multidisciplinary artist with a background in fashion, working in different mediums including art direction, set, textile and fashion design,  her practice includes a number of collaborations with the likes of Simon Jaquemus, Pepsi Co, Rachel Comey, Rijksmuseum, Nadiia and many more.

A distinctive feature of Reva’s practice is an exploration of her “line.” Her drawings cover all kinds of surfaces from murals, jewellery, pottery and textile design to the human body.

The series of artworks created for this exhibition is a diary of imagery that represents an unacceptable presence of genocide and pain brought by the Russian invasion on our soil but also the power of seasons where spring comes no matter what.

Masha Reva

EXHIBITION MASHA REVA & IVAN GRABKO
27.04 – 1.05

Location: Lehderstraße 34, 13086 Berlin, Germany

Studio of Jonas Burgert in Weissensee

Start: 19:00 on 27.04.2022