Mykhail Semenko — a charismatic Ukrainian futurist poet, editor, and violinist-musician who dared to write and think differently in times of grayness and challenges. Founder of a new artistic movement — futurism, later panfuturism, a poet of the “Executed Renaissance” era.

Early Years and Education

Mykhail (Mykhailo Vasylovych) Semenko was born in the village of Kybintsi in Poltava region to Vasyl Semenko, a local clerk, and Maria Proskurivna, a writer. The environment combining his father’s disciplined service and his mother’s creative nature greatly influenced the formation of his worldview.

He received his primary education at the Khorol Real School. In 1912, he enrolled in the Psychoneurological Institute in St. Petersburg, where he encountered new intellectual currents and artistic explorations that would shape his future path.

Futurism and the Birth of a New Aesthetic

By 1913, Semenko became fascinated with futurism — an avant-garde movement that rejected traditional art and sought to create a new artistic language for modernity. He not only joined the movement but developed his own concept — querofuturism, based on the idea of constant exploration and dynamism as the core essence of art.

Together with his brother Bazyl Semenko and artist Pavlo Kovzhun, he formed a group that in 1914 boldly announced itself with radical manifestos. The most sensational was the call to “burn Kobzar,” symbolizing not the literal destruction but the rejection of past authorities, which the artist believed hindered cultural development. This position provoked sharp criticism from the intelligentsia.

War, the Far East, and Lyricism

With the outbreak of World War I, Semenko was mobilized. He served in a telegraph unit in Vladivostok until 1917. There, he met Lidiia Horenko, who became his wife.

The experience of being far from his homeland and his personal struggles were reflected in his poetry collections Pierrot Loves and Pierrot Surrenders, filled with intimate and nostalgic lyricism.

Kyiv and Panfuturism

After the revolutionary events of 1917, Semenko returned to Kyiv, seeking to unite a new artistic community around himself. His previous group had dissolved, but this only motivated him to form new associations.

He joined various creative initiatives and later founded the “Strike Group of Futurist Poets,” which in 1922 evolved into the Association of Panfuturists — Aspanfut. Within this theory, art was seen as a unified system where different forms interact and transform into one another. Panfuturism called for a complete cultural renewal and a rejection of provincial thinking.

Odesa and Cinema

Odesa held a special place in Semenko’s life. From 1925 to 1927, he worked at a film studio as editor and screenwriter, actively promoting cinema as the art of the future.

Through his initiative, Geo Shkurupii, Yurii Yanovsky, and Mykola Bazhan joined cinema work. The latter, under Semenko’s influence, began pursuing film criticism. Semenko himself also worked on a screenplay about Taras Shevchenko — symbolically connecting to his early futurist manifestos.

In Odesa, he met actress Natalia Uzhviy, who later became his wife.

Kharkiv and “New Generation”

In 1927, Semenko moved to Kharkiv, where he realized one of his largest projects — the magazine New Generation. This publication became a platform for discussing contemporary art in all its forms — from literature to architecture and design.

The magazine introduced Ukrainian readers to the European cultural context, publishing materials about Bauhaus, Le Corbusier, and presenting the works of leading artists and the latest trends. Collaborators included cinema and theater figures, notably Dziga Vertov and Amvrosii Buchma.

H. Dubinsky. Mykhail Semenko. 1930. Caricature.

Zoia Zubkova, Mykhail Semenko, Ivan Malovichko in Mykhail Semenko’s office in the Kharkiv “Slovo” building. June 21, 1935.

Arrest and Death

On April 23, 1937, after a speech in Kyiv, Semenko was arrested by the NKVD. Under pressure and torture, he was forced to sign a “confession” that he had prepared a bomb, which conspirators allegedly intended to throw at the government tribune during the May 1, 1937, celebration, where the First Secretary of the CPU(b) Central Committee, Stanislav Kosior (organizer of the Holodomor, later also repressed), was present. On October 23 of the same year, Mykhail Semenko was sentenced to the highest measure of punishment and was executed the following day in one of Kyiv’s prisons.

The leader of Ukrainian futurism was likely buried in the Bykivnia forest. During Khrushchev’s “thaw,” the Main Military Prosecutor’s Office recognized that Semenko had been repressed without cause.

Legacy and Influence

Mykhail Semenko left a significant mark on Ukrainian cultural history as one of the most radical reformers of poetry. His panfuturist ideas envisioned the creation of “super-art” — a new synthetic phenomenon intended to replace traditional forms.

Despite his tragic fate, his work continues to influence contemporary Ukrainian art, particularly in avant-garde and experimental directions.