The first Online-BarCamp: On/Off: Creating The New Normal has Launched call for applications

Book And Creative Industries – Between Online And Offline.

Book fairs and festivals have been cancelled, and professional meetings of the book industry could not take place due to the Covid-19 Pandemic. To fill this gap, Goethe-Institut Ukraine has initiated the first Online-BarCamp: On/Off: Creating The New Normal. It has been implemented in co-operation with Book Arsenal, Frankfurt Book Fair, and the Goethe-Institut Ukraine, supported by the German Federal Foreign Office.

The BarCamp is an intense gathering event, which engages professionals from the book industry in Ukraine, Germany, Georgia, and Belarus, to network and discuss online/offline issues concerning fairs/festivals, book promotions, and visual storytelling.

Shape Of The Conference: The BarCamp takes place online on the 20th August 2020. Ten days in advance, discussion channels will be opened to provide the participants and speakers with the possibility to discuss the topics and content of the BarCamp. Participants are not spectators; they are active creators!

Call for Applications opens on the 20th July 2020 until the 31st July 2020 on the website. You can apply as a professional from the book industry. The working language of the BarCamp will be in English.

The BarCamp will centre around three challenges in creating the new normal: Fairs and Festivals / Book Promotions / Visual Storytelling. In between will be enough time for informal networking and professional exchanges. Speakers from Germany and Ukraine will offer input on topics at the virtual book stands for publishers, online/offline models for book fairs, and best book design contests.

The BarCamp´s Highlight: The closing event will be an exclusive performance for participants by Serhiy Zhadan (UA), Wladimir Kaminer (DE), and Yuriy Gurzhy (DE). They will perform new texts referring to the Corona-Crisis combined with music. A video of the performance will be made available to a wider audience after the BarCamp.

Olesia Ostrovska-Liuta, the Mystetskyi Arsenal Director

“We had to postpone the 10th International Book Arsenal Festival to next year because we understood very well that it was impossible to organise such a large-scale and atmospheric event online. However, our team continues to find opportunities to support the community with online activities. These activities are designed specifically for a remote engagement and to provide practical benefit to their participants”.

Beate Köhler, Director of the Goethe-Institut Ukraine

“Supporting publishers, librarians, and illustrators is one of the most important goals of the Goethe-Institut Ukraine. With the format of the Online-BarCamp, we want to try something new: How can you create a participatory online conference in which the participants can shape the content? We want to try this out”.

Tobias Voss, Head of the International Markets Department of Frankfurt Book Fair

“Book Arsenal is a major partner, and we very much regret not being able to be represented with a joint German stand in Kyiv. We are, therefore, all the more pleased to be able to organise a professional exchange with German and Ukrainian experts, which also leaves enough room for individual networking and exchange”.

Further Information

The International Book Arsenal Festival – an annual project of the Mystetskyi Arsenal. It is an intellectual event in Ukraine, where the book, literary, and artistic scenes develop and interact with each other, and jointly provides high-quality, timely, and innovative projects that are implemented.

Each year, the program of the Festival raises and reflects on the important issues of human existence, as well as society and culture, prompting a proactive position from the participants and visitors.

The Goethe-Institut is the Federal Republic of Germany’s cultural institute, and it is active worldwide. It promotes the study of German abroad and encourages international cultural exchange.

Frankfurt Book Fair is the largest book fair in the world. This year, it is also facing a challenge of changing the format of the fair in October. 

Online-BarCamp: On/Off: Creating The New Normal is a participatory conference in which the participants can shape their own program. It also offers much space for exchange and networking. It is all about online/offline for trade fairs/festivals, book promotions, and visual storytelling.

If you have any questions, please contact:

Mariia Shubchyk
[email protected]
Goethe-Institut Ukraine

Oksana Schur
[email protected]
Mystetsky Arsenal