A performance about care, guilt, and home: Sofiia Maksymova, a student at FA BUT, won WPS@25
Sofiia Maksymova, a student at
the Faculty of Architecture at BUT, won an award in the international Women,
Peace and Security (WPS@25) competition for her original performance, in which
she translates personal experience into movement and space. Her project
connects the themes of war, displacement, responsibility, and care—and raises
the question of what it means today to find one’s place in the world.
The award-winning work was
created as a documented performance based on original texts and poems. In them,
Sofiia reflects on family, distance, and the necessity of growing up quickly in
response to injustice and the forced abandonment of her home.
She then translates these
motifs into the physical realm: into movement, into working with the body, and
into a relationship with space. “I transform words into movement and space—it’s
about what it means to carry care, guilt, and love among women.”
In her performance, she
explores the experience of displacement and refugeehood, responsibility toward
others, and care as a shared and often invisible commitment. Through the
symbolic gesture of connecting two lines, the artist links her current reality
with a vision of the future—an effort to create an environment of
understanding, protection, and peace.
“Architecture is never neutral
to me”
The project also clearly
demonstrates how Sofiia thinks about architecture: not as a neutral discipline,
but as a tool that can actively engage with social issues. “I perceive
architecture as a political tool. It can support various groups of people and
influence society. For me, it is never neutral.”
This stance was also shaped by
her long-term involvement in the non-profit sector. Through the organization
Friends New Renato, she is participating in the construction of a school in
Zambia and, in addition to architecture, is gaining experience in fundraising,
social work, and grants. A stay in Turkey was also pivotal to her thinking,
where she fully realized the impact of the political environment on daily life
and freedom of expression.
Performance as the Only
Possible Form
The award-winning work was
created as part of a studio led by Ing. arch. Mléčka, whose theme was “Shelter.”
“I decided on performance because there was no other way to capture my working
process.” A key part of her work involved long-term observation of a specific
place, recording changes over time, and seeking a relationship to the space as
well as her own identity.
The resulting performance is
thus not merely an “output,” but rather a record of a process of searching,
during which the artist redefines her relationship to home: “I tried to find my
place again, even though I had to leave my home four years ago.”
A Path Toward Architecture in
the Non-profit Sector
Her experience with the
project and the award from the competition confirm her future direction. Sofiia
wants to dedicate herself long-term to architecture in a non-profit and
humanitarian context, where she sees her true social impact: “I’d like to do
something meaningful, and I can’t imagine designing hotels, shopping centres,
and restaurants endlessly.”
Sofiia’s success demonstrates
that architecture at FA BUT naturally transcends the boundaries of the
discipline—toward art, social engagement, and personal expression. Her
performance is not only a work of art but also a powerful statement about the
contemporary world—and about how to find space within it for care,
understanding, and safety.
WPS@25 International Award
Sofia Maksymova’s project was
selected as the winner of the WPS@25 Creative Student Competition, which
reached out to students from around the world and sought creative reflections
on the themes of peace, security, and gender issues.
The competition was launched
to mark the 25th anniversary of the adoption of the Women, Peace, and Security
agenda and, among other things, allows the winner to present the project on an
international platform.
You can find the video for the winning project at gearup.cz.
| Inserted by: | Rychnovská Anna Mgr. |
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