2024

"Causion: Live Wires", stainless steel, glass insulators from "Lviv Insulator Company LLC”,

"The Portrait", (in collaboration with Stefaniia Bodnia) found window grill, neon gas, glass

In the 1980s, artists from the Soviet Ukraine art academy frequented the Lviv Insulator Factory, using its ovens for their creations. This is the story that my father told me.
The project serves as a poignant reflection on historical narratives, politics, and human resilience, all centered around the now-abandoned Lviv Insulator Factory, a casualty of war conflict. Once a bustling hub of artistic innovation and industrial production, the factory now lies silent, a relic awaiting a safe moment to reignite its furnaces.
Ready-made objects steeped in history find new life alongside newly crafted structures, such as a neon sign adorning an old Ukrainian window fence originating from the turbulent '90s, glass electricity insulators paired with stainless steel structures, and videos depicting the factory's current state. Every component in the studio is sourced from its place of origin and produced in Ukraine. Ukrainian sand fused into glass, iron smelted into steel, and neon gas extracted from this production.
Glass, fragile yet insulating, mirrors the enigmatic nature of black holes. Within the factory's walls, once ablaze with activity, now lies darkness veiled by dust. Similarly, the seemingly humble neon gas, originally produced for the laser weapon industry of the Soviet Union, now finds newfound importance in the high-tech semiconductor chip industry. Through these contrasts, the project prompts reflection on the lasting impacts of Soviet industrialisation and the complex ethical considerations entwined with scientific progress and political change.

With thanks to Lviv Insulator Factory.