A unique for Ukraine event took place on October 31st 2020 in Kyiv.
The media literacy performance FASHION VS FAKES is the final part of an innovative cross-sectoral educational project in which the organizers, the Bohdan Hawrylyshyn Family Foundation with the support of the International Renaissance Foundation, have chosen a non-standard approach to the complex issue of fakes.
The problem of information fakes and the lack of critical thinking skills in Ukrainian society were tried to be solved with the help of fashion and performative art.
An outstanding feature of the project “Fashion VS Fakes” is the collaboration of education and fashion, educational and game approaches.
“We are convinced that innovative approaches are needed to solve such complex issues as the dominance of fakes and uncritical thinking. After all, media literacy lies in the field of ratio, and the action area of fakes is, first of all, a space of emotions. That’s why we decided to experiment, combine seemingly incompatible things, and create an unusual educational project, ” says project coordinator Marianna Yeleiko.
The performance began with the premiere of a social video on the importance of critical thinking and information hygiene, and it was accompanied with a lecture by Aliona Romaniuk, a well-known expert in the field of media ecology, author of the project “Beyond the News”. Aliona Romaniuk presented the story of most famous world and Ukrainian fakes ‒ from the story of Bill Gates and his “plan” to reduce the world’s population through vaccination to tragicomic tits and bullfinches from the Russian propaganda. Analyzing fakes at the molecular level, the expert demonstrated the technology of fake creation, viral spread and paradoxical trust in them in the mass consciousness.
“People follow fakes and it directly affects their lives. They are fooled by fraudulent schemes, buy all sorts of drugs, pseudo-drugs that do not help them, go to various charlatans and damage their health. People are accustomed to taking what needs to be checked for granted. However, it is this habit that must be fought, because all the decisions we make must be based on facts,” said Aliona Romaniuk, a project expert.
The highlight of the event was the creation of five fashion objects, raincoats, live during Aliona Romaniuk’s lecture. Raincoats are a metaphor for protection against fakes and storytelling of global meanings in the world of post-truth. Each of the raincoats has its own unique design and story depicted on it. Raincoats, designed by Halyna Vasenina, were a way to combine fashion and valuable information. The raincoats were illustrated with visual storytelling by scriber Yuliia Kniupa right during the event.
“I was impressed by the number of fakes we live in. When you live in your bubble, you choose what to believe in and what not to, and you do not notice the amount of lies that are everywhere. When it comes out, when topics like now come up, only then you do understand the scale of the problem. For example, did you know that the round shape of a UFO is a fake? I did not :). The topic is well covered and I am proud of our team that created this incredible event. Together, we are a force!”, said Halyna Vasenina, project designer.
Meaningful and fashionable outfits were demonstrated by the guests of the performance during the fashion show. Among them there were famous media people and artists: Roman Koliada ‒ radio host, musician and poet; Natalka Sopit ‒ journalist, presenter, actress; Svitlana Kononenko ‒ editor-in-chief of Burda Style magazines, Verena, Sabrina in Ukraine; Lesia Ziatkovska ‒ imagemaker, stylist, founder of the fashion hub; Yaroslav Belinskyi ‒ designer, co-founder and chairman of the Design4Ukraine Association.
“We live in an the age of post-truth, when everyone believes in what they want to. It is necessary to take the bull by the horns in different ways: for some people, rational methods work and it is enough to show the algorithm of struggle against fakes, for others, it takes five years as everyone has his own speed and the way of thinking. That’s why we have to use different means and ways to do it”, says Roman Koliada, a radio host, musician and guest of the project.
The topic of fakes concerns not only the information sphere, but it has is much broader scope. Medicine, design, science, education, law, media ‒ all these areas suffer from fakes. “Anti-Fake Discussion: Fashion for Facts” has become a platform for a global conversation about fakes and forgeries, truth and facts, information hygiene and responsibility for “what we give to this world.”
Ways to counter fakes were sought at the system level by:
- Roman Koliada ‒ radio host, composer, poet,
- Oksana Maksymeniuk ‒ media lawyer, head of the legal department of RPDI (Regional Press Development Institute),
- Fedir Lapii ‒ Chairman of the National Technical Group of Experts on Immunoprophylaxis in Ukraine, Yaroslav Belinskyi ‒ designer, co-founder and chairman of the Design4Ukraine Association,
- Iryna Yehorchenko ‒ senior researcher at the Institute of Mathematics of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Candidate of Physical and Mathematical Sciences.
“I work with the fashion industry, and when I first heard about the topic, I immediately realized that it would be interesting. However, when I was invited, I had no idea how interesting, large-scale and global it would be! Fakes in medicine, information, fashion, science, design ‒ I have a continuous passion for our today’s discussion, and I think about how to use it further in my work. A wonderful event, which awakens not only the brains, but also every cell of it!” ‒ shared her impressions Lesia Ziatkovska, image maker, stylist, founder of Fashion hub.
One of the tasks of the project was to activate and create a new network of connections to help solve the problem of fakes. The organizers are grateful for the help and support of the International Renaissance Foundation, Peremoha for a comfortable venue, Anna Zotieva for technical support and direction of the event, Devio Production for shooting and editing a social video, FSS Сonsulting Сompany for support in SMM-project promotion, for information support to the Ministry of Youth and Sports of Ukraine, All-Ukrainian Youth Center, Kyiv Regional Youth Center, New Fashion Zone, Berdyansk Fashion Day.
The Bohdan Hawrylyshyn Family Foundation and the International Renaissance Foundation launched the Fashion VS Fakes project at the intersection of fashion, education, media literacy and performance, so that the decisions which we, Ukrainians, make will lead to positive changes in the society. We hope that every day more and more Ukrainian people will value responsibility and responsible behavior. Let’s stop the downpour of fakes, lies and untruths in our lives and change Ukraine for the better together!” said Marianna Yeleiko, project coordinator.
Fashion VS Fakes is a part of the # bh15 project to promote the values of the Bohdan Hawrylyshyn Family Foundation.
For more photos and video about the Media Literacy Performance event. Watch the live recording here.