Armed with a Dream
2012 – 2013
Central Exhibition Hall Manege, Moscow, Russia

In Armed with a dream installation, tents are enlarged in size, though not so as to be disproportional to the human body but to create a sense of optical distortion that emphasizes the counter shift of the visible and the apparent. It makes tangible the important theme in Russian culture of the little person, which has obtained new meaning in the early 21st century. The entrances of these tents, which are like peasants’ homes from Russian fairy tales, face viewers (the entrance is open but inaccessible — the big top is surrounded by metal fencing, which is as recognizable a part of the modern Russian landscape as market stalls), but what does the back face? The fire in which human civilization was born? A ritual pagan bonfire? Or is it the source of energy that drives society forward, but the flames of which that threaten to destroy it?

The earlier version of installation was presented in 2012 as part of the group show “Futurologia” at Ecole Nationale Supérieure d’Architecture, Nantes, France.