On 15 November 2017, an impactful meeting took place in the UFO building in Kyiv. It was an evening of architect, artist, art theorist, violinist master, musician, professor, book designer, poet and author of the UFO building Florian Yuriev. According to the new project, this building was at risk of becoming a part of a new giant shopping mall. The main topic of the meeting was the first public discussion of that possible reconstruction. This event had a huge resonance and very important consequences. One of them was the foundation of activist group #SAVEKYIVMODERNISM and further actions of its members to raise public awareness to the architectural heritage of the second half of the 20th century in Ukraine. The main goal of the community was the final inclusion of the UFObuilding in the list of architectural and art monuments of Ukraine. In addition the group #SAVEKYIVMODERNISM together with Florian Yuriev created a full featured project of possible restoration and revitalisation of this iconic building. After 3 years of struggle the UFO building was included in the list by the personal order of the Minister of Culture of Ukraine. But despite the public success of this action new examples of neoliberal attitude to the architectural heritage continued to appear in Kyiv. The next most screaming example was the case of the Flowers of Ukraine building, which the buyer started demolishing in the middle of the working day without any permission on 12 July 2021. A new group of activists have begun to confront the developer. Courts between activists and representatives of the builder are still going on. Let’s hear more about this activism form and does things changed when the war started?
