Exhibition view, Espace Léo Ferré, Monaco
SYMPOSIUM
Tactile and light installation, text, 2022
This work was created at the beginning of the war in Ukraine. It refers to the Holodomor, the man-made famine and act of genocide inflicted upon the Ukrainian people by the Soviet regime between 1932 and 1933. Through the confiscation of grain harvests and all other food supplies, Soviet authorities caused the deaths of millions of peasants, who made up nearly 80 percent of Ukraine's population.
The sculpture comes alive in the pink light. It’s a round table, 1.5 metres in diameter, with
a small-scale plantation of wheat, lentils and beans. Rather than inviting visitors to discuss humanity's impact on the environment, I invite them to experience a direct, tactile connection with nature. On a screen, a looping video poem reminds us that our everyday choices have consequences.
Monday
The separated reality
The human resonance
Tuesday
Humidity
Meaning in a world devoid of meaning
The void
Wednesday
A tulip thrown onto the snow
Pieces of spoiled flesh
Birds fallen from the sky
Fish cast away by the sea
Thursday
The frustrated chicken
Friday
The rain of the lonely face
Melancholy of paradise
Illusion of unity with the universe
Reinterpretation of the past
Saturday
The friction between the soul and
the outside world
Sunday
The whole man
Holy water