‘‘BETWEEN A HERCULES AND A BUTTERFLY” EXHIBITION IN PARIS CATACOMBS, OCTOBER 2023
Each of the 16 participants, whether Ukrainian, Russian or Kazakh, has experienced the hardships of emigration.
There is no better place to convey the borderline state of emigrant life as underground tunnels, sewers, catacombs. The underground world of Paris is a point between life and no life. This border state resembles where we find ourselves once we move to a new country. Catacombs, technical rooms or sewers are hidden from everyday life. The difficulties of emigrant life are hidden in the same way.
Immigrants have to cope with the established norm of life in a new place, from the outside it may look like an exciting process (as it is often seen by relatives or friends who have stayed in their home country), but the people who are looking for a new home in the process find themselves “technical rooms” themselves. And to change this they have to do feats, to revise their understanding of the norm, to fit into the unknown language of the new life. This state can be called “Between Hercules and Butterfly”.
The ceramic sculpture by Sonia Andrews represents a fire that produces neither light nor heat. It opens the exhibition and stands across from the Bernaskoni object. The eternal fire is frozen, turned into a statue, a monument.
On the one hand, the frozen fire is an image of infinite war, but on the other hand, the small ceramic fires created by the artist may provide a soothing experience of grounding and control by fitting into one’s hands — helping to confront fears and regain tranquility.
PARTICIPANTS:
SONIA ANDREWS
RODION KITAEV
SASHA ZALIVAKO
POLINA TIKHONOVA
VANYA VOLKOV
ROMA BANTIK
ALINA IZMAILOVA
ELIKUKA
CURATOR: MAXЙМ
SONIA ANDREWS
RODION KITAEV
SASHA ZALIVAKO
POLINA TIKHONOVA
VANYA VOLKOV
ROMA BANTIK
ALINA IZMAILOVA
ELIKUKA
CURATOR: MAXЙМ
FEDORA AKIMOVA
JENIA FILATOVA
BORIS BERNASKONI
ONEK4EVER
STAS FALKOV
NATASHA GONCHAROVA
MISHA GUDWIN
MAXЙМ