This video is a core of the project created during the "critical days", the days of the Russian attacks on Ukraine's critical infrastructure. Created with Monoconda to the sounds of a generator and between power outages, which usually last less than two hours for me. They are followed by a long six hours without electricity, plus another 15-20 minutes, that should have belonged to those two hours when it was on. For me and many others, the moments when power is restored are not followed by the joy of getting back to the achievements of a mankind, but an alarming signal to the nervous system that it’s time to do hygiene, charge power banks, wash dishes, clean and iron, and that you should hurry up, because you won’t have time before the shutdown. The days keep running this way and when I understand that it is unlikely that anything will change in the near future, I take my laptop and rush to the nearest cafe, coworking space, “invincibility point” or start a generator, a steel warrior that will devour gasoline at a rate of 3 liters per hour to turn on my computer and do something that will help me and hopefully someone else to survive these "critical days". After all, the lord of darkness spends his last dementors, guided and unguided, air, land or sea based, for a reason. This is an emotional and economic bridgehead for the subsequent military offensive.
I count the liters and can’t help thinking that with this fuel my car would take me from Kyiv to my native Kherson, mercilessly shelled and missed so much. In photo and video works, an additional dimension and value appears: the number of liters of gasoline and the distance in kilometers. The generator has become an integral part of our reality, like houses, trees and birds. Like people, each has its own unique generator identity: voice, appearance, power and designation. One feeds a coffee shop, another feeds the store or a house, and there are those that capable to supply power to a hospital, train station or shopping mall. But on the streets of the city, their voices merge into a single choir, singing to us about the courage, resilience and unity of the Ukrainian people. That together we will stand. No matter how many missiles Putin’s regime launches here, no matter what it shoots at, it will not change anything, except the bills, that Russians will have to pay after their defeat. Like a fighting dog, the Ukrainian people have clung to their freedom with a stranglehold and will only let go when the regime collapses. I know that the darkest time is always before the dawn and these are not just words. So it was in Kherson before the liberation, so it will be now.
I count the liters and can’t help thinking that with this fuel my car would take me from Kyiv to my native Kherson, mercilessly shelled and missed so much. In photo and video works, an additional dimension and value appears: the number of liters of gasoline and the distance in kilometers. The generator has become an integral part of our reality, like houses, trees and birds. Like people, each has its own unique generator identity: voice, appearance, power and designation. One feeds a coffee shop, another feeds the store or a house, and there are those that capable to supply power to a hospital, train station or shopping mall. But on the streets of the city, their voices merge into a single choir, singing to us about the courage, resilience and unity of the Ukrainian people. That together we will stand. No matter how many missiles Putin’s regime launches here, no matter what it shoots at, it will not change anything, except the bills, that Russians will have to pay after their defeat. Like a fighting dog, the Ukrainian people have clung to their freedom with a stranglehold and will only let go when the regime collapses. I know that the darkest time is always before the dawn and these are not just words. So it was in Kherson before the liberation, so it will be now.
MUDRA "PARTING WORD"
(Prints 105x70 cm, 90x60 cm)
A sketch for a sculpture project and a response from Ukrainian power engineers to the RF Ministry of Terrorism.
To perform namaz, Muslims must know exactly the direction to the Holy Kaab in the Treasure Mosque in Mecca. In Islam, this direction is called Qibla. For centuries, it was found with the help of astronomical and trigonometric calculations and marked, in every mosque it is a mihrab. In Casablanca, this direction is effectively indicated by the green laser beam projected from the minaret of the Hassan II mosque.
The main "minaret" of our structure points in different direction. It is not to Mecca, it is to Moscow, accustomed to claiming the role of the third Rome, points for a completely different ritual - the rite of farewell.
The main "minaret" of our structure points in different direction. It is not to Mecca, it is to Moscow, accustomed to claiming the role of the third Rome, points for a completely different ritual - the rite of farewell.