67 x 14 x 7 cm, PLA 3D printing, blue velvet, toy violin
The work The World’s Smallest Violin is connected with Yevgeny Prigozhin (1961–2023), the founder of the private military company Wagner.
The symbol of the Wagner Group is a sledgehammer. In November 2022, Prigozhin presented the European Parliament with a violin case containing a sledgehammer. Inspired by Prigozhin’s idea, I created a suitcase in the form of a sledgehammer with a small violin inside it.
The title of the work refers to the iconic gesture from Tarantino’s Reservoir Dogs. The gesture of the “world’s smallest violin” (rubbing the thumb and index finger together) is used to express sarcasm and a lack of sympathy, often as a reaction to someone exaggerating their plight or unjust treatment.
Photos: Manuel Abella
Projection 700 x 270 cm, mirrors, sound: 49:10 min.
"Not Everyone Will Be Taken to a Bunker" is a multimedia installation, conceived for an exhibition at Hajusom e.V. in a bunker on Feldstraße in Hamburg.
Bomb shelters have been integral to Israeli architecture since the nation’s founding in 1948. Israeli law mandates that all homes, residential buildings, and industrial facilities be equipped with bomb shelters. Covering approximately 60% of Israel’s territory, the Negev Desert is deeply intertwined with the nation's history, which has been marked by persistent conflict since its inception. The most recent escalation occurred on October 7, 2023, starting with Hamas terrorist attacks targeting kibbutzim and the Supernova festival, originating from the desert.
The installation features a static video projection of the Negev Desert in Israel on one of the bunker walls. Mirrors affixed to two sides of the projection reflect the video, creating an infinity effect. This visual motif aims to expand the confined space of the bunker. By juxtaposing the bunker and desert spaces, the installation blurs the boundaries between closed and open, protected and unprotected, safe and dangerous, security and freedom, as well as military facility and nature.
For the sound composition, the research involved discussions with individuals from Israel about their experiences in bomb shelters. Sound designer Christian Pappalardo created the final experimental track, incorporating sounds from the bunkers based on these accounts, snippets taken from social media and news outlets, and mixing them with Psytrance-inspired rhythms and sounds played at the Supernova festival.
Christian Pappalardo: Sound
Alexey Kudrik: Сamera
Arne Mier, Ole Manke: Technical Сonception
With the kind support of Claussen-Simon-Stiftung and Hamburgische Kulturstiftung
Fotos: Jaewon Kim (1-5), Mattia Quaglia (6)
EVERYTHING IS CLEAR — EVERYTHING IS WRONG, 2023
Pencil on paper, 42 × 59,4 cm
The basis of the two drawings is the phrase in Russian "Everything is not so clear". Russian propaganda uses it when the government enacts vile policies. The most blatant example is Russian invasion to Ukraine. Yes, BUT everything is not so clear: NATO provoked us to do it, defending the Russian people in Donbas was vital, if we had not attacked, Ukraine would have attacked us first.
The text is written on two different images of the sky. In the first drawing, a bird flies, whilst in the second, an Iranian Shahed drone, commonly used by the Russian military for attacks in Ukraine.
Clouds obscure parts of the sentance "Everything is not so clear". So the viewer can read in the first image, "Everything is clear", following the second drawing with, "Everything is wrong".
THE OTHER RUSSIA, 2023-ongoing
5 drawings, 59,4 x 42 × cm (63,5 x 46 cm framed), pencil on paper
For the drawing series, The Other Russia, I’ve appropriated the covers of Popadantsy books, redrawing and combining them with classic anti-war poetry in Russian.
Popadantsy is a popular genre of amateur literature in contemporary Russia. The main plot is that the protagonist travels back in time to change the course of history. Its central themes are dissatisfaction with their country’s history, Soviet or imperial reassertion, and the resulting revanchism.
The book covers are kitschy illustrations of the book’s events. Usually, these are scenes of violence involving the protagonist and other characters. The anti-war texts are known to almost everyone from Russia as they reflect the part of the population for which war is unacceptable. With these drawings, I negotiated the different positions on the war in Russia, which pushed a deep social division.
I don't give a damn, I don't give a damn, I'm tired of fighting,
I don't know anything, my house is on the edge.
Text by Yuliy Kim
A uniform full of holes, Commander Moidodyr -
Enough of this bloody struggle for peace,
We don’t need war,
Fuck it! -
Enough of this bloody struggle for peace!
Text by Olga Arefieva
The house that we will build,
Time will not destroy,
The sun will not give way to blackness.
Because friendship is a mighty weapon,
The greatest weapon on Earth!
Text by Nikolai Dobronravov
IN SEARCH OF LOST SECURITY, 2022
6 aluminium plates, 170x100, UV print
I was developing the installation In Search of Lost Security in March 2022. I described the news of two media in Russia and Germany — Channel One Russia and Tageschau.
The focus of the work was six days from 15.02. to 20.02.2022, before the recognition of the independence of the republics of Donetsk and Luhansk, when it became clear that Russia would launch an invasion of Ukraine.
Those days included Scholz’s first meeting with Putin, the 58th Munich Security Conference, the announcement of dates for the invasion of Ukraine by U.S. intelligence, and Russia’s fabricated pretext for the invasion and the proposal to recognize the independence of the Donetsk and Luhansk people’s republics. The main topic of those days was security.
These texts are printed on six aluminium plates on both sides — on one side a fragment from Channel One News, on the other from Tagesschau. The plates are suspended one by one, with the viewer sandwiched between the texts. Its movement drives the plates. The heavy plates are suspended from the ceiling on thin metal bands, which creates a sense of instability in the entire installation.
