WHO FRAMED THE WHITE CUBE
STARE WELL
ˈPƏRS(Ə)NƏˌLĪZ
Aleksei Martyniuk
WHO FRAMED THE WHITE CUBE
video art, video installation, video poetry / 4 min 51 sec / 2023.03
The transformation of the old cinema «BYL» into a center of contemporary art became the starting point for the author’s reflection, whose path to the art also began in the world of cinema. The kaleidoscopic collage transcends the «big screen» and occupies the space. This fusion of the cinema hall and the «white cube» changes usual viewing rituals and creates a new perceptive situation for the audience where they can find their own reflections. Classical narratives are being replaced by a moving surreal world of symbols. This artwork is an attempt to expand the viewer's experience, blur the boundaries between reality, screen and imaginary, as well as involve the audience in the game of interpretations and search of inherent meanings.
Original screening format supposed projection to the multiple split screens installed amongst the audience sits at the cinema hall.
STARE WELL
video art, stop motion animation / 3 min 28 sec / 2022.12
Step by step we go up and down the stairs called «life». These endless ups and downs depend on our personal characteristics or circumstances. We should not forget that we can always take a few steps back and look at the situation from the side before continuing our way.
The artwork consists of two mirrored parts, where each half is not always a direct reflection of the other – sometimes it's a different path, a different person, a different «you». Screening format supposes a video projection to the corner of the wall at the stairwell area with a symmetrical split of the image in halves, which allows the viewers to look at themselves from the different angles and recognize their own life situations.
ˈPƏRS(Ə)NƏˌLĪZ
video art, video installation / 5 min 05 sec / 2022.11
What would Argus see in a mirror? Nowadays, when we are able to monitor all world events, it's easy to start identifying yourself with the all-seeing giant.
But the world around us is full of people whose views can either coincide with yours or be radically different. Such a variety of interpretations and the changeable nature of our perception formed the basis of this artwork. «ˈPƏRS(Ə)NƏˌLĪZ» finds itself simultaneously in the role of the observed and the observer, and the viewer is getting involved in this endless play of its possible states.
This artwork follows the previous experiments with persistence. Joseph Plateau's phenakistiscope was taken as the main visual unit, the properties of which were expanded by the optical illusions. The generative nature of the artwork forms each time in the viewer’s eyes a unique picture of the world.
Aleksei Martyniuk is an interdisciplinary artist and filmmaker. In his artistic practice he often works with the theme of cyclicity and its possible forms. His video artworks do not represent some subjective experience, but rather create conditions for its occurrence for the viewer. They are aimed to expand the viewing experience and create new perceptive situations in which familiar elements of the surrounding world are placed in new contexts.