The Centre d’Art Contemporain Genève is pleased to welcome Ukranian artist Yuri Yefanov for a film screening and conversation at Cinema Dynamo on Tuesday November 1st at 6.30pm.

This event is part of a wider program of screenings celebrating the Ukrainian audiovisual art scene, curated by Lesia Kulchynska, who will be present for the event. The curator had conceived the program Love Tales, recently presented on the 5th floor and which included Yuri Yefanov.

Yuri Yefanov (b. 1990, Zaporizhzhya, Ukraine) is an artist and filmmaker based in Kyiv, Ukraine. Yefanov grew up in Crimea, in Gurzuf and graduated from Kyiv University of Culture and Arts, Faculty of Film and TV Directing. His work has been shown at various international experimental film festivals and exhibitions in Europe and the United States.

PROGRAM

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THE CUBE

This video was shot in 2013 in the very south of Crimea, just a year before the Russian invasion. The initial concept was to shoot a non-human portrait: the concrete cube standing on the seashore. Now, access to the cube and the territory which surrounds it is prohibited to all, by land or by sea. This space is classified at the highest level of terroristic emergency, but not for military purposes. This is the territory which hosts of the largest camp for children, spread over 7 kilometers to the seacoast. Here, they learn how to love the motherland, how to be patriotic, and how to be involved in the military agenda. The best place to receive propaganda should look like paradise to allow them to fully and happily be indoctrinated. This is a dream landscape. It didn’t disappear but it cannot be reached.

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TERRAPOLICE

Terrapolice (TP) is an organization for the protection of the interests of the natural environment. It was created during the Landart symposium “Mohrytsia” in 2020 by Clemens Pool, Yuri Yefanov, and Natalia Matsenko. Several artists have been wanted or arrested by TP on charges of wanton violent artistic activity against the environment. In the following videos, you will see a promo created specifically for Terrapolice's recruiting campaign, as well as a demonstration of two cases: the "Plastic Baron" and the "Serial Florist". In the video, Terrapolice explains in detail the essence of the crimes committed by the artists, and then conducts an analysis according to their ethical scheme, based on which indictment is issued against the artist.

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NIHELIOUS

This work is made from 3D animations used by DVDs of the 2000s as extra entourage for wedding films. These animations, such as angels, hearts, and roses, were used to enhance the aesthetic appeal of these films. This piece is the result of media archeology. Yefanov has collected over 700 GB of these animations (each footage is approx. 1-2mb) and picked the best angels, roses, hearts etc. to bestow upon them the leading role in his film. In this way, the objects that were on the periphery of the wedding video now change their status, turning into full-fledged entities.

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SOUNDS OF MOHRYSTIA, SPECIFICALLY HUMANS

The focus of this project is on the human / environmental dichotomy. The environment is commonly called the space of the nonhuman, or the human surroundings, thus drawing the line between humanity and non-social nature. According to Bruno Latour, caring for the environment begins when there is no more "environment". So, instead of the noise of rivers, the buzzing of bees, the roar of bison, etc., I suggest listening to the voices of people as the sounds of the environment. This work, recorded 5 kilometers from the Russian border as part of the Landart symposium "Mohrytsia. Prostir Pokordonnya”, focuses on the rhetorical question for the Anthropocene: "who / what is the environment today?". Yefanov invited participants to gather in a circle and make any sounds, except for ready-made language forms - words. Communication was based on new non-verbal constructions that emerged during the happening.

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THE WIND PROBABLY

This animation is based on recordings from Kyiv's webcams and emphasize the view of the urban landscape from the standpoint of a remote digital observer. A man looks at the empty streets of his hometown on the threshold of apocalypse. The world is on the verge of being absorbed by the Black Hole. Familiar places are difficult to recognize in the ruins. It is hard to find clues to understand the difference between reality and dream. The feeling of "not quite real» experienced during a catastrophe is prevalent. Artificial intelligence is the only entity with whom one can discuss what is happening in one's attempts to orient oneself in the disintegrating reality. The project is built around the concept of uncertainty. The problem of understanding the impending apocalypse is related to the "data / interpretation" dichotomy used by Timothy Morton to say, "we are probably living in an age of mass extinction". Thus, among the apocalyptic landscapes, two characters meet to discuss the "reality" of what is happening and the relevance of contemporary philosophical and scientific ideas of the reality being experienced. Does the pessimism of speculative materialism satisfy our needs in metaphysics? Does the scientific image cope with the role of a religious substitute? Is Freudianism still relevant, and what is the place of art in a catastrophe? Aren't the best topics for discussion in the downfall of civilization…