Bu-Ba-Bu

Bu-Ba-Bu (Ukrainian: Бу-Ба-Бу) is a literary performance group founded on April 17, 1985 in Lviv by three Ukrainian writers Yurii Andrukhovych, Viktor Neborak, and Oleksandr Irvanets. The group's three syllables stand for "burlesque, balagan, and buffonada". The idea behind the group's formation was in order to present a carnival like interpretation of events in Ukraine.

The first public evening of Bu-Ba-Bu took place in late 1987 in Kyiv. The period of the most active activity of Bu-Ba-Bu (23 concert poetry evenings) was 1987–1991.

The apotheosis of Bu-Ba-Bu was the Vyvykh-92 festival in 1992 (youth festival of alternative culture and non-traditional genres of art in Lviv). The brightest part of the festival were four performances of 1–4 October 1992, poetry opera Chrysler Imperial by Bu-Ba-Bu (directed by S. Proskurnia).

In 1995, the first joint book of bubabists Bu-Ba-Bu. T.v.o.[…]ry was printed in the publishing house "Kamenyar".

In 1996, the Chrysler Imperial (Thursday-6) print project effectively ended the "dynamic period" of Bu-Ba-Bu's existence.

The literary grouping became the embodiment of carnival neo-Baroque thinking inherent in the metahistorical carnival culture of humanity. The social foundation of the metahistorical carnival in Ukraine was the subconscious massive fracture syndrome that accompanied the collapse of the empire and caused two metapsychic components: social depression and massive carnival laughing reflection on the cataclysm of the system. The work of Bu-Ba-Bu members within the literary group itself became a situational and conceptual artistic response to social reflection. Bu-Ba-Bu founded its own Academy.

The theater, which the summer group "Bu-Ba-Bu" tried to create, was based on the shocking destruction of the norms of traditional poetry. This was realized by the development of taboo poetic themes, the use of profanity, stylistic smashing. Readers' reactions ranged from categorical rejection to enthusiastic commentary, but neither the group's supporters nor their enemies noticed that they were involved in a kind of game and that they were not playing - they were being played.