The official launch of INDEX: Institute for Documentation and Exchange took place on 7 September 2024 in Lviv. The historian Timothy Snyder and Serhiy Zhadan, poet and serviceman of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, spoke at the event. Their conversation was chaired by the journalist and Vice-President of PEN Ukraine Myroslava Barchuk.
The official launch of INDEX brought together over 200 participants, – intellectuals, community organisers, journalists, and cultural practitioners. The co-founding institution of INDEX, the Institute for Human Sciences (IWM Vienna) was represented by its Rector Misha Glenny, Executive Director Katharina Hasewend, the Research Director of the Ukraine in European Dialogue programme Mariia Shynkarenko, and the Ukraine Programmes Coordinator Anastasiia Kovach.
The establishment of INDEX has been driven by the work and vision of two Permanent Fellows of the IWM, Dr Katherine Younger and Professor Timothy Snyder. “We have called the launch ‘INDEXing the Future’ for a reason”, Dr Sasha Dovzhyk, INDEX’s Programme Director, explained in her remarks. “Intellectual exchange enables documentation of Russia’s war against Ukraine and the development of a stable archive which will serve as an index, a guide, and a warning for future generations not only in Ukraine but all over the world.”
The INDEX’ launch was supported by the Lviv City Council, Center for Urban History (Lviv), PEN Ukraine, and the family of the late writer and Documenting Ukraine grantee Victoria Amelina.
INDEX is a new cultural and research institution created in Lviv to empower the Ukrainian intellectual vanguard and advance knowledge about Ukraine worldwide, not only at the moment of existential threat but also in the long term. INDEX aims to connect the initiatives that document Russia’s war against Ukraine and to facilitate international exchange through fellowships and grants for Ukrainian researchers and cultural practitioners and their peers from abroad.