CONNECTOR
silicone on tin, fiber optic cable, system unit, UV print on glass, LED lamp, photos
"Connector" Exhibition
Curated by Misha Gudwin
PHOTO BY JENYA NEBOLSINA
ARTIST-RUN SPACE DAIPYAT, VORONEZH
2021
“Connector” is a project based on the found posthumous archive of a scientist from the Kurchatov Institute – a classified facility where nuclear weapons and atomic energy were developed. There, in 1990, a computer network, Relcom, was established. It unites several networks of the USSR, and so the Russian Internet emerged. The archive consisted of working papers, images of naked women, and reproductions of works from the Hermitage Museum. The hidden and the sexual, the eternal and the ephemeral all blended together.
The objects that Alina used in the project had a common chemical element in their structure – silicon*. Chemical commonalities between objects transform the exhibition space into a kind of alchemical laboratory, where the transition of elements from one state to another is possible, and the viewers can become tacit participants in this process by engaging into the story of the unknown scientist.
"The path from a 'little death' - an orgasm - to a bigger actual death is followed by glass fibers-connections. This structure through its materiality takes the viewer closer to an analogy of resurrection. Photographs, on the other hand, become analog imprints of the past arousal." – Alina Brovina.
"For me, the act of masturbation to a classical painting is a playful signal that brings me closer to the unknown scientist who lost his children and ended up alone at the end of his life," - Alina Brovina.
*Silicon is essential for the design of processors and microchips. Silicon dioxide is what glass (on which the photographs are printed) is made of. Optical fibers are made from silica glass (silicon dioxide SiO2). Silicones that are also organosilicon compounds (-R2Si- O -SiR2-) are used to create implants, bionic prostheses, skin imitations, and sex toys.
