BETONIUM investigates the relationship between contemporary identity and architectural heritage in Central and Eastern Europe. It focuses on the iconic panel-built residential blocks—symbols of ideological power and tools of urban control, which are also sites of personal and sentimental memory.
This project is rooted in my own experience of growing up in a former Soviet republic and living in a block house that never resonated with me—until I moved to Poland and began to see these structures in a broader cultural and political context.
Through staged “human sculptures, ” I examine the interaction between architecture and its inhabitants. Just as bodies are structured and moved, urban planning ideologies subtly shape the lives of those who reside within these cities, embedding collective dreams and aspirations into concrete. Video of performance youtu.be/fuOSGJGqtmU
With the help of AI, I create a symbolic “imaginary archive” that blends modernist aesthetics with ideological motifs. The resulting facades are collages of industrial elements, machinery, and human figures, reflecting the utopian ambitions of modernist design—particularly those of Le Corbusier—and the overarching narratives of ideological control.
Drawing inspiration from historical sculptures from the era of panel-block construction, I revisit the concept of ‘stone idols, ’ deconstructing political narratives of control and idealisation. I reflect on how such ideals were promoted both in the Eastern bloc— through overt propaganda—and in the West, through the seemingly neutral language of modernist progress.
In my photo collages, created from my own images, I juxtapose elements from past and present to explore the tension and complexity of contemporary identity in the former Eastern Bloc. These contrasts highlight how historical legacies continue to shape personal and collective narratives.
BETONIUM spans 11 countries across the former Iron Curtain, including Poland, Slovakia, Georgia, Estonia, Serbia, and Belarus. In one performative aspect of the project, I print images of block houses onto curtains and install them in homes across borders—placing, for example, an image from Georgia in a Polish apartment. Through this symbolic act, I explore the possibility of a shared visual and emotional language, suggesting a universal city of blocks and a common post-Soviet experience.
The project consists of several chapters, including documentary and conceptual parts (performance, still nature, video). Zine is released.
VIDEO documentation of the exhibition ‘BETONIUM’ at MD_S gallery, Wroclaw, Poland 2024 youtu.be/gLz6QY_yvcQ
P.S. Photos are not in the sequence, just a representation of the working directions.
