The space around us is always politically active, whether it is a natural landscape, a city square, or an abandoned office building. One way or another, every space we inhabit reflects the prevailing economic, emotional, climatic, or political conditions of its time.
For Aleksei Gordin (EST) and Dasha Trofimova (KZ/LV), engaging with abandoned spaces — particularly interiors — is a playful and intriguing process, akin to archaeological research. It uncovers layers of accumulated histories, each revealing its own era and the traumas associated with it. The artworks born from this process are presented in the exhibition as a form of mimesis, capturing (forever?) what originally exists as a site-specific installation or spatial artistic intervention.
Abandoned buildings exist in silent anticipation of either demolition or revival, while vibrant life unfolds just beyond their walls. This contrast is both mesmerizing and unsettling, vividly exposing the fragility of our social, economic, and political ties. What seemed stable and permanent only yesterday can today become a labyrinth of abandoned rooms filled with objects that were once considered valuable.
Through an ironic critique of the problems and cognitive dissonances of contemporary society, Aleksei Gordin uses abandoned interiors as visual settings for his statements. Executed directly on the walls with aerosol paint in an intentionally aggressive and monumental manner, his texts cut sharply through the surrounding interiors, recalling the bold slogans of propagandistic promising posters. The act of creating these works is itself a performative intervention — at times into the ephemeral notion of "private property," to which the exhibition's title also refers.
Dasha Trofimova likewise creates temporary performative works. She constructs large-scale installations from furniture and everyday objects found inside abandoned buildings. Central to these works is the fragile balance that holds the structure together. Once disturbed — much like a political system or an economic crisis — it inevitably leads to the collapse of the entire construction. Every object within such an installation functions as a cog in a larger system, operating harmoniously only as long as it maintains its balance and avoids conflict with the other elements. At the same time, each object tells its own unique story about a place, a person, and a way of life that no longer exists.
The sign "Private Property," so often encountered on the facades and entrances of abandoned buildings, represents a naïve attempt to maintain control. While the building itself slowly decays, its interior rotting away as all organic matter ultimately returns to nature, people continue to believe that the ghostly shell of a building still belongs to them. Perhaps, by building barriers and growing apart from one another, we stop thinking about unity and mutual support. And in doing so, we risk becoming like these abandoned buildings ourselves.
Pictures:
https://drive.google.com/drive/u/1/folders/1-5aWysLzaWinbAuLPqBQeNCme09hxZaK
Publication at ERR Kultuur
Artists: Alexei Gordin, Dasha Trofimova
Text: Ilja Jakovlev
Curator: Ilja Jakovlev, Temuri Hvingija