Mala Gallery of Mystetskyi Arsenal, Kyiv. 2017
A white sheet of hopes and an imposed persuasion of ideal existence are one of the signs of the Lost Territories, or state systems engendering phantoms—simulacra of reality.
Jean Baudrillard compares a map of a territory with the territory itself—with the original. He says that a map (as a simulation) is no longer a simulation of the territory, but a synthesized model of a real without origin or reality. The territory no longer precedes the map, nor does it survive it. To simulate means to pretend that you have something you do not really have. The simulation calls into question the distinction between “true” and “false,” between “real” and “imaginary.”
Thus, new content forms old systems. A path to an ideal system of existence goes through the creation of illusions on the social level or in everyday life, through belief into new images and symbols which results, sooner or later, in the collapse of the system, the images, and the ideas.
This exhibition brings together works that reflect the idea of forming an ideal social space, cast doubt on the long-term viability of utopian systems, and visualize transformations in the former Soviet states.
