RUTA Annual Conference 2026 took place in Uzhhorod

What a week it has been!

Over four days, #RUTA2026 brought together more than 200 participants, including in-person and online attendees, artists, partners, volunteers, and members of the organzing team. Together, we hosted 58 panels, roundtables, workshops, screenings, exhibitions, and performances, engaging with questions including, but definitely not limited to the promises and limits of collaborative, feminist, and decolonial methodologies; environmental justice and the environmental legacies of colonialism; art as a site of resistance; disinformation and OSINT; questions of identity, belonging, and positionality; dynamics and experiences of forced migration; and the RUTA region in dialogue with communities across Iran, Xinjiang, Africa, Palestine and beyond.

These topics represent only a glimpse into the extraordinary range of conversations that unfolded throughout the conference. To everyone who joined is, thank you for making RUTA2026 such a vibrant, inspiring, warm, and unforgettable gathering!

The RUTA Conference 2026 was organized with the support of our partners: Uzhhorod National University and the Department of Archaeology, Ethnology and Cultural Studies; the International Renaissance Foundation; the Heinrich Böll Foundation Ukraine; Razom for Ukraine; Goethe-Institut Ukraine; the Ukrainian Studies Fund; Danyliw Foundation; Danyliw Research Seminar; and the University of Zurich.