The Poltva River as Cultural and Social Space

Lviv’s river lately is becoming subject of discussions between specialists from different fields – ecologists, architects, sociologists and artists. At the moment the high costs for reconstructing the river bed--as well as the skeptical attitude towards the whole idea--make the reconstruction project a fantasy. In this discussion we talked about how we could change situation, and about what the Poltva could change in our social, cultural and economic life.

Discussion has been run around five Lviv dwellers, who talked about the Poltva from their personal perspective: an artist, Yurii Kokh; who has been painting the river for many years; architect Yurii Stoliarov talked about the river as public space; Yurii Nazaruk, who run restaurants, talked about the river as engine for economy; Ostap Malashniak gave insights into the public initiative that he developed with the monument of Mercury; and Yarko Futymskii helped us to think about the river as a provocative art subject.