In collaboration with artists Ksenia Malurika and Maria Kutuzova, the project “Presence” was realized, demonstrating the distortions of reality and the impact of the 2022 war on ourselves. Being at a significant distance from the war for eight months but unable to escape its pull, we decided to document its consequences. The exhibition-intervention is a collection of artifacts and testimonies from those who recognize this deadly influence and resist it.
The project brought together works by 17 artists, featured 4 musical groups and 3 poets, and included a lecture on neo-feudalism and a screening of an auteur film. The exhibition offers a multi-layered entry into the issues of war and its consequences through various means, directly or indirectly reflecting on the assessment of military events. The concept of the exhibition emphasizes that war distorts everything it touches—thoughts, values, cities, countries, the everyday present, and visions of the future. Understanding the changes caused by the war allows us to enter a state of “presence, ” where we can most openly perceive and comprehend what is happening, drawing on our life experience and knowledge. This collective expression of a single event allows us to create an understanding of the war’s prevailing influence on us. Our exhibition reveals the vulnerability of people in the face of war and unites us in acknowledging this fact.
Participants:
Oksana Par
Tasya Vodkina
Katya Lisitsyna
Yulya Shtogren
Artyom Bobkov
Maksim Moiseev
Mariya Kutuzova
Valentina Gudaeva
Lesya Doronicheva
Valeriya Aleksandrova
Kirill breakneck Maslov
Photo by Roman Gobatovsky