Hide and Seek
Wood, find photo, find plastic toy. 60×80 cm
The pieces is a reflection on the newest photo collection that joined the VEHA archive in 2023. These are Ruins of Belarus i.e. photos in which people pose against the background of demolished buildings located on the territory of today's Belarus. For installation, I uses photos of ruined Belarusian cities, taken by German soldiers during the occupation in times of the World War II, which I found on German eBay. (Mentioned that is Gomel 1941). And I combine archival photos with post-war toys for children created in the GDR and PRL. The form of the work itself is a reference to Chaim Steinbach's artistic method, which is based on collecting and organizing already existing, most often mass-produced objects. Hramovich leaves the shell of Steinbach's construction as a recognized form in contemporary art, saturating it with things that resemble rather a historical museum’s display than a contemporary art exposition. In my case was said it’s like “subjective archaeology”, or private historical museum where things from different pasts suddenly appear in one place. The contrast between them is intensified by the modernistic shape of the toy from the 60-70s, which looks like an alien against the background of the rubble. By juxtaposing two different pasts in present time, aims to showcase the past repeats itself in the present, like in an endless game.
The work from group exhibition "We’ll Hold a Wedding on Your Graves. Beyond VEHA Photographic Archive" Copenhagen Photo Festival. Danmark
Curator: Vera Zalutskaya
