Leida Pello: What is UVKE’s mission?

 

UVKE's main ambition is to introduce new and interesting Russian culture to the Estonian audience and thus bring the two language communities closer.

 

LP: Why do you use the abbreviation UVKE, does it have something to do with the word uhke?

 

The abbreviation comes from Estonian for New Russian Culture in Estonia (Uus vene kultuur Eestis) and coincidentally sounds like misspelled uhke, which means proud in Estonian.

 

LP: What inspired you to create a new project dedicated to introducing new Russian culture in Estonia?

 

Living in Tallinn, we both noticed how Estonian and Russian speaking communities failed to share same mental space in addition to sharing same physical space and decided to do something about it.

 

LP: Does UVKE also include Estonian creatives inspired by the new Russian culture? Why?

 

Some Estonian Russian creatives have taken part in our events. For example, poet Sveta Grigorjeva, who writes in Estonian and in her work often deals with the topic of national identity, and musician Artjem Astrov, who was born in Samara (Russia) and now living in Tallinn.

 

LP: How has living in different cultural spaces affected you?

 

We both have been living abroad and this has definitely been a push in establishing UVKE. Through our residencies in Europe, USA (Gustav) and Russia (Sandra) we witnessed the creative impulse a city gets from the melting of different cultures and also met many young and promising artists of Russian origin.

 

LP: Why do you think it is important to combine two different cultures?

 

Living in London I was very inspired by how the city embraced all the diverse cultures of its citizens and made this medley the trademark of British music and fashion. Maybe, Estonian culture could also benefit from integrating Russian culture instead of assimilating it?

 

LP: Is it possible that in the future UVKE could be having events outside of Estonia introducing the merging of Estonian and Russian culture?

 

This definitely is one of our goals. Would be awesome to make it happen!