INFO
Olena Shykina
olenashykina@gmail.com
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Olena Shykina is a Kyiv-based composer and sound artist whose practice grows from a research-driven, conceptual approach shaped by her background in linguistics, product and experience design; and a deep love for cinema, literature, theater, and fine art. Aiming for a bold, holistic, and highly expressive sonic language, she approaches sound as a cohesive system defined by the correspondence of spirit and matter. Her work investigates the physical sensation of sound — how it expands, resonates, interacts with the body, and takes on a sculptural multidimensionality in space.
Using electroacoustic methods, noise, high-frequency oscillations, granular processes, and real-time manipulation, she builds sonic environments that are expressive, bright, and physically present. The result is a practice that bridges design thinking with musical experimentation: structured yet visceral, concept-driven yet intensely emotional, expanding the listener’s sense of sonic volume, energy, and tactility.
CV
COSSACHKA DESCRIPTION
COSSACHKA
PERFORMANCES
Kyiv Municipal Academic Opera and Ballet Theatre for Children and Youthyiv, Kyiv, 2023
Khmelnytsky Regional Philarmonic, Khmelnytsky, 2024
Lesya Ukrainka National Academic Drama Theatre, Lviv, 2024
Ivano-Frankivsk Regional Philharmonic,Ivano-Frankivsk,2024
Dramatic Theatre, Bazaar Festival, Prague, 2025
Zaporizhzhya Regional Philharmonic, Zaporizhzhya, 2025
Bethlen Téri Színház, SŐT7, Budapest, 2025
DESCRIPTION
Dancers, musicians and visual artists from Ukraine combine contemporary dance, live electronic music and singing in a performative ritual of female resistance. COSSACHKA immerses in the collective experience of women in times of crisis – forged in the fires of war, when many take up arms to stand on the front lines. The title refers to the legendary female warriors or Amazons who once roamed the Ukrainian steppes with their hair in braids (in Ukrainian called "kosy").
In the music, we move from simplicity to complexity, from tradition to experimental tension. Together with actress and singer Solomiia Kyrylova, we explored phenomena connected to the universal nature of womanhood, experimenting with temporal artefacts — digitalising folk and classical vocal traditions and drawing on rare works by 20th-century Ukrainian women poets. The development of the material also included banduryst Volodymyr Voit, who contributed a special improvised section for one of the scenes.
The music in the performance is conceived as a complex system in which samples of Ukrainian folk instruments are interwoven with electronic sound and voice.
COSSACHKA is a poetic exploration of identity and resistance that does not rely on heroic gestures, but on unpretentious, everyday strength – to survive, to endure, to remain.
TEAM:Director:Julia Lopata
Choreographer:Gala Pekha
Composer and performer:Olena Shykina
Singer and performer:Solomiya Kyrylova
Costume designer:Asya Sutiagina
Lighting designer: Olena Antokhina
Dramaturg: Paul Bargetto
Producer: Polina Bulat
Dancers:Dayana MankovskaDana Sarman Daria Hordiichuk Viktoria Demydova Anna Kulchytsk