"OM" - "AUM" / sculpture

And on this very page, we bring the decade-long history of the "Fiction Gallery Expedition" to a close. Following the successful construction of the vandal-resistant object Trinity (which exists and functions to this day), I wished to place a definitive period in this large-scale project situated outside institutional space—the mobile gallery FGE.

Ten years of "Odyssean" voyaging gave me, personally, vast experience in observing society and its interaction with the sudden appearance of something that could be reacted to however one pleased. I had already begun to see the emergence of analogues and calls among the youth for revolutionary mobile galleries—for instance, in the publication Artist Claustrophobia / Mobile Galleries on the website "Proza" (1) at the time—but evolution appeals to me more than revolution. Of course, one could continue this project for a lifetime, but I already saw a certain monotony in human manifestation, which I documented in a large quantity of photos, videos, and texts. Therefore, I decided to land.

Since the forms of manifestation varied, but the primary ones involved building objects on hills, I decided to conclude with a concrete form on the verge of vanishing into the cosmos—like a drop dissolving in water—in the most suitable location. Three crucial points: Form, Place, and Time.

The Form. The fact is, when you start thinking outside institutional categories, you realize that censorship does not exist at all. Today, unlike the Soviet review (where party apparatchiks monitored ideology before production), reviews are monitored by private individuals based on commercial, aesthetic, political, and religious aspects—the latter threatening everything from scandal to a pogrom of the establishment.

At that time, I was interested in various utopias and everything related to pseudoscience. In the dialogue Critias, Plato described the island of Atlantis, which Poseidon surrounded with three rings of water and two of land for protection. When I drew this ringed structure in a 3D program, I saw that from above it reminded me of a frozen drop with the sacred sound Om/Aum, implying the completion of the FGE in dissolution. Although associations may vary: a solar sign, a mandala, a target, a wheel, a stage, etc.

The Place. Since my interests did not pertain to academic science, I found information online about the astrological center of Kyiv. It turned out to be Detinka Hill, rising in the middle of the Gonchary-Kozhemyaki tract (2). This astrological center was the site of numerous intersecting lines, so it was considered dangerous to live there due to unstable energy. Since time immemorial, nothing had been built on Detinka Hill. For me, everything converged perfectly at this zero point—the center of the separation of the zodiac signs—where I decided to end the project.

The Time. Finally, the time I chose: according to the horoscope, it was an auspicious day under the sign of 1, the planet—the Sun. And indeed, everything went smoothly. I lacked manual labor, but about two dozen volunteers willing to help spent the night on the mountain, naturally, in exchange for gratitude. Among them were those who saw "Archeofuturism" in this construction—a mindset according to which the future will turn again to the values of the ancestors (3).

In sum, this interweaving of everything was marked by the sound—OM/AUM.

To be continued... 

Igor Konovalov

(1) "I believe it would be reasonable to arrive at the following salutary assumptions:

• The artist can get rid of intermediaries;

• The artist can avoid the hangouts of the 'chosen few';

• The artist can cease sexual intercourse with gallerists;

• The artist can leave static galleries, unwilling to turn sour in boxes;

There is nothing more correct and inspiring than an aesthetic jihad against static galleries, the sacred claustrophobia of the poet. Their walls must be destroyed to transform the city into a gallery without walls, a territory of direct contact with the public. One does not shoot 'indirectly.' One shoots straight into the heart, eyes, ears, and minds.

The Mobile Gallery: — The Mobile Gallery has no bosses; — The Mobile Gallery has no address; — The Mobile Gallery's exhibitions arise spontaneously, wandering and moving through different places; — The Mobile Gallery belongs to no one, but belongs to everyone..." Anatoly ULYANOV, "Proza" website. Published: Month 04, 2006. (The "Proza" website closed in 2009).

(2) After orienting the Zodiacal Circle to the cardinal points, only one problem remains—finding its center on the terrain. In other words, finding the astrological center of the city. The problem is complex but solvable. After a thorough analysis of the map of Kyiv, Detinka Hill, rising in the middle of the Gonchary-Kozhemyaki tract, was determined as the center of the Zodiacal Circle.

(3) The term "Archeofuturism" (L’Archeofuturisme, 1998) was first introduced by the contemporary French thinker Guillaume Faye. It is a synthesis of ancient local mythologies with global information strategies. Replacing the "hackneyed pop" that is identical everywhere, unique folk groups, neo-ethnic movements, and historical reconstruction suddenly emerge in different regions. These projects do not strive for a literal "revival" of some ancient past—usually, they harmonize quite well with modern techno-aesthetics, lending it a "metahistorical" resonance. Characteristically, the main conductors of this trend are not some dreary conservatives obsessed with "preserving old culture," but specifically the creative youth striving to create a new image of their land.