["The scene in Kyiv is now understood to be cool"]

My Accidental Visit to the Pandemic’s Party Capital Kyiv was supposed to be a quick layover for the writer Rosa Lyster. But its underground nightlife turned out to be just what she needed. 

Rosa Lyster, The New York Times, Sept. 21, 2021 [article contains striking photographs by Gueorgui Pinkhassov/Magnum, for The New York Times] 

Image from article, with caption: At Dveri Bar, in the Podil district.

Excerpt: [from a longish article]

Kyiv’s underground scene has been developing a reputation for some time, to the extent that it is now regularly submitted as candidate for the position of the “new Berlin.” Not everyone likes this comparison, pointing out that it is a corny thing to say and also that it diminishes the city’s individual identity, but most will broadly agree with the sentiment behind it, which is that the scene in Kyiv is now understood to be cool. There are a lot of parties in semi-abandoned buildings, a lot of discussions about intolerably hard techno taking place in Boryspil Airport and an atmosphere of brakes-off hedonism that has only grown more heady as the pandemic has stretched on. 

Rosa Lyster is a writer currently working on a book about the global water crisis. She is based in Kyiv, Ukraine. Gueorgui Pinkhassov is a Russian-French photographer born in Moscow known for his vivid global documentary work and series of city portraits. He has been a member of Magnum Photos since 1988.

Comments

  1. shakistoSeptember 25, 2021 at 6:52 PM

    Unless ;cool' refers to temperature, I don't much about the meaning of this adjective. Did the change of spelling from Kiev to Kyiv have anything to do with this? At least now English speakers can tell that the pronunciation does not rhyme with sieve.

    ReplyDelete

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