Last weekend, On Time festival brought together Kyiv’s music, art and craft communities to celebrate creativity – and vent the trauma of the Russian invasion
Nestled in a peaceful green dell, hidden beneath a glowing canopy of deciduous woodland, the morning sun shines over the old river port of Kyiv. Shafts of light pour into the courtyard of a bright-red, Soviet-era ribbon factory being artfully repurposed during a time of war.
For over a decade the 19th-century factory buildings on Nyzhnoiurkivska 31 in Podil district have been the go-to place in Kyiv for all-weekend raves and youth subcultures, welcomed by resident nightclubs Closer, Mezzanine and Otel’. It all came crashing down when Russia invaded Ukraine and most of the people who worked and socialised here either left for somewhere safe to shelter, joined the army, or started volunteering to help with the war effort. But today is a new dawn for the ribbon factory, with On Time, the country’s first large-scale alternative music and arts event since the invasion five months ago.
Festivalgoers chat in the ribbon factory’s courtyard.
