LIGHTING TROPES
HD Color two-channel video, 2 min 58 sec, sound. Moscow, March 2022
A step. Light is scattered: it is a tightrope, an illusion for those who contemplate, and the only way for those who have decided not to fall.
‘Lighting tropes’ is our reflection on the actual geopolitical agenda and its influence on individual life. Mimicking and hiding, we continue existing in our societal roles, fitting in a situation of no choice and trying to resist the government pressure in accessible forms.
Performers are put into a conflict situation, in which the object is not tangible. Knowing that their walking partner is by their side evokes the feeling of non-verbal unity and is a symbol of the collective unconscious. Meanwhile, the strictly defined environment determines the movement of performers who unconsciously adjust to it: the narrow lighting path sets a pattern of behaviour for them and ultimately deprives the characters of the choice not to adapt.
The cyclicity - as a measure of time - becomes a metaphor for the wave-like movement of life itself.
