Beyond Greener Grass – Meet cultural producer, musician, and game designer Les Vynogradov

CEC: Why do you think a gathering like this is especially important right now?
LV: I think it’s crucial to have gatherings like this regularly—to catch up, exchange latest perspectives, and coordinate our next steps. The protracted Russian war and its constantly shifting threats have robbed Ukrainians of the capacity to plan long-term, but outside of Ukraine, we, and especially our international partners, have that privilege. We are long past the emergency reaction schemes and stop-gap measures: At this point, it should be abundantly clear that this major war in Europe is not going away anytime soon, and we all need shared visions of how to resist—and ultimately stop—the Russian aggression in the long run. And in that sense, sustaining multi-year initiatives such as Beyond Greener Grass, which allows monitoring the rapidly evolving situation in the culture field on an ongoing basis, adjusting our strategies, and continuing to foster solidarity across the borders, is indispensable.
The present moment, however gloomy and uncertain, is yet another stage of a war Ukrainians have been forced to fight for over ten years now. The newly found sense of urgency and attention brought to Ukraine by the recent political events should be channeled toward reinforcing lasting processes of resilience.

CEC: How does your work seek to address today’s geopolitical context?
LV: In an increasingly hostile and divided world, we try to keep conversations going, making things together, and creating added value.
With Kyiv Contemporary Music Days, we have been focusing on two major tracks. On the one hand, we do co-productions with international partners that typically involve non-Ukrainian musicians (occasionally featuring a Ukrainian soloist) performing music by Ukrainian composers, often commissioned by us, alongside pieces from other countries. That way, we aim to represent the Ukrainian scene, not as an exhibit to be showcased, but rather as an equal partner in creating meanings together with European colleagues.
On the other hand, we seek to establish contacts with institutions across Europe that are willing to strengthen their collaboration with Ukraine. This has allowed us to create multiple opportunities for Ukrainian artists through grant programs such as Instrumental and Per Forma.
With Hedenite, the video game I am developing with artists Anna Ivanenko and Jenya Polosina and programmer Nazar Mazur, we are telling a story about stolen history and finding your agency in a fundamentally unjust world. While it is heavily inspired by our native Kyiv and draws from the Ukrainian experience, it’s a story we hope to have a universal appeal thanks to the original aesthetic, fantasy worldbuilding, and fun game mechanics.
So, our response to the current geopolitical context is more empathy, critical thinking, and solidarity.

CEC: What conversations and project ideas are you hoping to spark (or continue) from this Assembly?
LV: I am excited to share our recent experience of international cooperation, but what I am most curious about is hearing from colleagues from Ukraine and getting updates on their projects. We are all involved in multiple initiatives at once and usually don’t have time to take a step back, discuss it all, and compare our perspectives as they evolve. And yet these conversations usually prove to be very fruitful. I hope we can take the discussions from where we left them last year at the Beyond Greener Grass workshop in Berlin and expand on these ideas.

Many thanks Les for taking the time and taking part in the Beyond Greener Grass Assembly!

23–24 MAY 2025 | ArtsLink Assembly: Beyond Greener Grass
📍 Jam Factory Art Center, Lviv, Ukraine