maria kulikovska + oleg vinnichenko
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War and Pea€e
Action on the mined beach along the border free city with occupied part of Donetsk region. Mariupol, Ukraine, 2016.
Three years after the «Untitled» performance at Shcherbenko Art Centre in Kyiv, when Maria Kulikovska desperately screamed to the ground, the Crimean-Ukrainian artist repeated the same performance on the mined beach in Mariupol, Donetsk region, Ukraine. «Untitled» in Kyiv was a premonition, but in Mariupol - a long conflict trial. Kulikovska's scream on the crowded beach contrasted with the reconciliation of local citizens with the war situation.
«June 18 was very hot and the angry sun burned everything. People tired of hard work at the factory came to the beach. All heavy industrial factories send poison to the Sea of Azov through the sewers. Mariupol is always covered with smog. On the other side of the sea is occupied Crimea - my home. 20 km away in the east, the war daily continues, but people just rest on the beach tired of the conflict. This beach is full of mines and people with guns. It has been going on for 2 years and people don't even notice it anymore because they are tired. They are tolerant to death, weapons, violence, war. I also came to the beach. For screaming. I looked at the sea, which is the boundary between my home and the war. I looked to the east and saw bombs on the horizon. I was scared, but my voice was so quiet in comparison to the laughter of the children who played around on this desert ground...»*.
On the basis of photographic documentation made by Sergey Vaganov, in the workshop of the platform of cultural initiatives «Izolyatsia» in Kyiv were made a series of silkscreen prints of this action in 2019.
*from Maria Kulikovska's memories.
«June 18 was very hot and the angry sun burned everything. People tired of hard work at the factory came to the beach. All heavy industrial factories send poison to the Sea of Azov through the sewers. Mariupol is always covered with smog. On the other side of the sea is occupied Crimea - my home. 20 km away in the east, the war daily continues, but people just rest on the beach tired of the conflict. This beach is full of mines and people with guns. It has been going on for 2 years and people don't even notice it anymore because they are tired. They are tolerant to death, weapons, violence, war. I also came to the beach. For screaming. I looked at the sea, which is the boundary between my home and the war. I looked to the east and saw bombs on the horizon. I was scared, but my voice was so quiet in comparison to the laughter of the children who played around on this desert ground...»*.
On the basis of photographic documentation made by Sergey Vaganov, in the workshop of the platform of cultural initiatives «Izolyatsia» in Kyiv were made a series of silkscreen prints of this action in 2019.
*from Maria Kulikovska's memories.
«One day we'll wake up. We will be in an amazing, fantastic world of beauty, freedom, anarchy – love for every speck of dust of the Universe.
Cruelty, lies, fears, eating each other, poverty, boundaries, power, hierarchy, inequality, prejudice, wars, slavery will be unknown horror tales and legends from the past. Perhaps, the body will also disappear and with it the need for its maintenance, and, as a result, the overrun of resources. Knowledge of all the languages of the world will be something very ordinary. The telepathic exchange of thoughts and ideas will replace all computers, phones, chips, bank accounts..., which means – ending of the endless control over every life, ending the endless mining of minerals and the thirst for possessing large resources, all this will be meaningless any more. We will cease to be alone in our planet, galaxy, space, universe. Everyone will have the opportunity to choose and change any time their own color of skin, shape and content. We will care about our planet – probably, we will decide to leave it for it... Please, do not sleep any more».
Written in exile in May 2019, Stockholm, Sweden – 3035 km away from mined beach. Three years after the action.
Cruelty, lies, fears, eating each other, poverty, boundaries, power, hierarchy, inequality, prejudice, wars, slavery will be unknown horror tales and legends from the past. Perhaps, the body will also disappear and with it the need for its maintenance, and, as a result, the overrun of resources. Knowledge of all the languages of the world will be something very ordinary. The telepathic exchange of thoughts and ideas will replace all computers, phones, chips, bank accounts..., which means – ending of the endless control over every life, ending the endless mining of minerals and the thirst for possessing large resources, all this will be meaningless any more. We will cease to be alone in our planet, galaxy, space, universe. Everyone will have the opportunity to choose and change any time their own color of skin, shape and content. We will care about our planet – probably, we will decide to leave it for it... Please, do not sleep any more».
Written in exile in May 2019, Stockholm, Sweden – 3035 km away from mined beach. Three years after the action.
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