Danila Tkachenko

(size plus photo frame) This project was commissioned by Qatar Museums as part of Qatar-Russia 2018 year of culture photographic exchange.

(size plus photo frame) This project was commissioned by Qatar Museums as part of Qatar-Russia 2018 year of culture photographic exchange.

The Middle East concentrates our ancient human history… Qatar was populated in the third millennium B.C. and since then, despite the desert environment, its population has farmed, harvested, fished and built. Like other areas of the world, over the past thirty years, Qatar has enjoyed some of the fastest economic development rates from the entire history. A small handful of new billionaires flourish on the sand dunes while poverty remains as a challenge in the whole world. The appearance of Middle East cities has been transformed rapidly, yet the rest is exactly the same as thousands of years ago. Infrastructure improved as education did with new modern roads and vast crystal skyscrapers with imposible architecture appearing on the horizon like a mirage. It seems that this conspicuous new capitalism heave does not imply much physical labour for the contemporary Qataris, since workers were invited from abroad. Perhaps, though Qatari people drinks from their ancient traditions to create a new identity in a post Neo liberal era yet to be described worldwide. In the seek of a new promised land, what is now the promise?

(size plus photo frame) This project was commissioned by Qatar Museums as part of Qatar-Russia 2018 year of culture photographic exchange.

(size plus photo frame) This project was commissioned by Qatar Museums as part of Qatar-Russia 2018 year of culture photographic exchange.

(size plus photo frame) This project was commissioned by Qatar Museums as part of Qatar-Russia 2018 year of culture photographic exchange.

(size plus photo frame) Since 1917 Russia’s rural population has contracted by more than 80%. The collectivisation of 1928-1937 was the first stage in the destruction of Russian villages. It was implemented to eradicate the historically established social order, and also to forcibly seize property and food from the peasant class for the state. Between 7 million and 8 million people died as a result of hunger and political repression, while over 2 million peasants were sent to the Gulag. By 1979 the number of villages had contracted by 60.2% (to 177,100). As a consequence of the centralisation and resettlement of the population, the logistics of harvests were disrupted, resulting in enormous losses in the agricultural sector, followed by rapid growth in food imports and an increase in social and political tension in the USSR. In modern Russia the trend of a contraction in the number of rural villages has continued. Over the past 20 years 23,000 villages have disappeared from the map of Russia, while small farmers are unable to compete with major corporations. According to the forecasts of some demographers, 96% of rural dwellers will live in cities by 2025. In other words, the rural population will disappear almost entirely. The project was filmed in territories located far from population centres and woodland. All manner of precautions were taken to prevent the spread of fire. The debris from constructed decorations were dismantled and taken away, while the used decrepit nonfunctional and destroyed structures were doomed to complete the process of physical disappearance within several years.

(size plus photo frame) Since 1917 Russia’s rural population has contracted by more than 80%. The collectivisation of 1928-1937 was the first stage in the destruction of Russian villages. It was implemented to eradicate the historically established social order, and also to forcibly seize property and food from the peasant class for the state. Between 7 million and 8 million people died as a result of hunger and political repression, while over 2 million peasants were sent to the Gulag. By 1979 the number of villages had contracted by 60.2% (to 177,100). As a consequence of the centralisation and resettlement of the population, the logistics of harvests were disrupted, resulting in enormous losses in the agricultural sector, followed by rapid growth in food imports and an increase in social and political tension in the USSR. In modern Russia the trend of a contraction in the number of rural villages has continued. Over the past 20 years 23,000 villages have disappeared from the map of Russia, while small farmers are unable to compete with major corporations. According to the forecasts of some demographers, 96% of rural dwellers will live in cities by 2025. In other words, the rural population will disappear almost entirely. The project was filmed in territories located far from population centres and woodland. All manner of precautions were taken to prevent the spread of fire. The debris from constructed decorations were dismantled and taken away, while the used decrepit nonfunctional and destroyed structures were doomed to complete the process of physical disappearance within several years.

(size plus photo frame) Since 1917 Russia’s rural population has contracted by more than 80%. The collectivisation of 1928-1937 was the first stage in the destruction of Russian villages. It was implemented to eradicate the historically established social order, and also to forcibly seize property and food from the peasant class for the state. Between 7 million and 8 million people died as a result of hunger and political repression, while over 2 million peasants were sent to the Gulag. By 1979 the number of villages had contracted by 60.2% (to 177,100). As a consequence of the centralisation and resettlement of the population, the logistics of harvests were disrupted, resulting in enormous losses in the agricultural sector, followed by rapid growth in food imports and an increase in social and political tension in the USSR. In modern Russia the trend of a contraction in the number of rural villages has continued. Over the past 20 years 23,000 villages have disappeared from the map of Russia, while small farmers are unable to compete with major corporations. According to the forecasts of some demographers, 96% of rural dwellers will live in cities by 2025. In other words, the rural population will disappear almost entirely. The project was filmed in territories located far from population centres and woodland. All manner of precautions were taken to prevent the spread of fire. The debris from constructed decorations were dismantled and taken away, while the used decrepit nonfunctional and destroyed structures were doomed to complete the process of physical disappearance within several years.

(size plus photo frame) Since 1917 Russia’s rural population has contracted by more than 80%. The collectivisation of 1928-1937 was the first stage in the destruction of Russian villages. It was implemented to eradicate the historically established social order, and also to forcibly seize property and food from the peasant class for the state. Between 7 million and 8 million people died as a result of hunger and political repression, while over 2 million peasants were sent to the Gulag. By 1979 the number of villages had contracted by 60.2% (to 177,100). As a consequence of the centralisation and resettlement of the population, the logistics of harvests were disrupted, resulting in enormous losses in the agricultural sector, followed by rapid growth in food imports and an increase in social and political tension in the USSR. In modern Russia the trend of a contraction in the number of rural villages has continued. Over the past 20 years 23,000 villages have disappeared from the map of Russia, while small farmers are unable to compete with major corporations. According to the forecasts of some demographers, 96% of rural dwellers will live in cities by 2025. In other words, the rural population will disappear almost entirely. The project was filmed in territories located far from population centres and woodland. All manner of precautions were taken to prevent the spread of fire. The debris from constructed decorations were dismantled and taken away, while the used decrepit nonfunctional and destroyed structures were doomed to complete the process of physical disappearance within several years.

(size plus photo frame) Since 1917 Russia’s rural population has contracted by more than 80%. The collectivisation of 1928-1937 was the first stage in the destruction of Russian villages. It was implemented to eradicate the historically established social order, and also to forcibly seize property and food from the peasant class for the state. Between 7 million and 8 million people died as a result of hunger and political repression, while over 2 million peasants were sent to the Gulag. By 1979 the number of villages had contracted by 60.2% (to 177,100). As a consequence of the centralisation and resettlement of the population, the logistics of harvests were disrupted, resulting in enormous losses in the agricultural sector, followed by rapid growth in food imports and an increase in social and political tension in the USSR. In modern Russia the trend of a contraction in the number of rural villages has continued. Over the past 20 years 23,000 villages have disappeared from the map of Russia, while small farmers are unable to compete with major corporations. According to the forecasts of some demographers, 96% of rural dwellers will live in cities by 2025. In other words, the rural population will disappear almost entirely. The project was filmed in territories located far from population centres and woodland. All manner of precautions were taken to prevent the spread of fire. The debris from constructed decorations were dismantled and taken away, while the used decrepit nonfunctional and destroyed structures were doomed to complete the process of physical disappearance within several years.

(size plus photo frame) Since 1917 Russia’s rural population has contracted by more than 80%. The collectivisation of 1928-1937 was the first stage in the destruction of Russian villages. It was implemented to eradicate the historically established social order, and also to forcibly seize property and food from the peasant class for the state. Between 7 million and 8 million people died as a result of hunger and political repression, while over 2 million peasants were sent to the Gulag. By 1979 the number of villages had contracted by 60.2% (to 177,100). As a consequence of the centralisation and resettlement of the population, the logistics of harvests were disrupted, resulting in enormous losses in the agricultural sector, followed by rapid growth in food imports and an increase in social and political tension in the USSR. In modern Russia the trend of a contraction in the number of rural villages has continued. Over the past 20 years 23,000 villages have disappeared from the map of Russia, while small farmers are unable to compete with major corporations. According to the forecasts of some demographers, 96% of rural dwellers will live in cities by 2025. In other words, the rural population will disappear almost entirely. The project was filmed in territories located far from population centres and woodland. All manner of precautions were taken to prevent the spread of fire. The debris from constructed decorations were dismantled and taken away, while the used decrepit nonfunctional and destroyed structures were doomed to complete the process of physical disappearance within several years.

(size plus photo frame) Since 1917 Russia’s rural population has contracted by more than 80%. The collectivisation of 1928-1937 was the first stage in the destruction of Russian villages. It was implemented to eradicate the historically established social order, and also to forcibly seize property and food from the peasant class for the state. Between 7 million and 8 million people died as a result of hunger and political repression, while over 2 million peasants were sent to the Gulag. By 1979 the number of villages had contracted by 60.2% (to 177,100). As a consequence of the centralisation and resettlement of the population, the logistics of harvests were disrupted, resulting in enormous losses in the agricultural sector, followed by rapid growth in food imports and an increase in social and political tension in the USSR. In modern Russia the trend of a contraction in the number of rural villages has continued. Over the past 20 years 23,000 villages have disappeared from the map of Russia, while small farmers are unable to compete with major corporations. According to the forecasts of some demographers, 96% of rural dwellers will live in cities by 2025. In other words, the rural population will disappear almost entirely. The project was filmed in territories located far from population centres and woodland. All manner of precautions were taken to prevent the spread of fire. The debris from constructed decorations were dismantled and taken away, while the used decrepit nonfunctional and destroyed structures were doomed to complete the process of physical disappearance within several years.

(size plus photo frame) Since 1917 Russia’s rural population has contracted by more than 80%. The collectivisation of 1928-1937 was the first stage in the destruction of Russian villages. It was implemented to eradicate the historically established social order, and also to forcibly seize property and food from the peasant class for the state. Between 7 million and 8 million people died as a result of hunger and political repression, while over 2 million peasants were sent to the Gulag. By 1979 the number of villages had contracted by 60.2% (to 177,100). As a consequence of the centralisation and resettlement of the population, the logistics of harvests were disrupted, resulting in enormous losses in the agricultural sector, followed by rapid growth in food imports and an increase in social and political tension in the USSR. In modern Russia the trend of a contraction in the number of rural villages has continued. Over the past 20 years 23,000 villages have disappeared from the map of Russia, while small farmers are unable to compete with major corporations. According to the forecasts of some demographers, 96% of rural dwellers will live in cities by 2025. In other words, the rural population will disappear almost entirely. The project was filmed in territories located far from population centres and woodland. All manner of precautions were taken to prevent the spread of fire. The debris from constructed decorations were dismantled and taken away, while the used decrepit nonfunctional and destroyed structures were doomed to complete the process of physical disappearance within several years.

(size plus photo frame) Since 1917 Russia’s rural population has contracted by more than 80%. The collectivisation of 1928-1937 was the first stage in the destruction of Russian villages. It was implemented to eradicate the historically established social order, and also to forcibly seize property and food from the peasant class for the state. Between 7 million and 8 million people died as a result of hunger and political repression, while over 2 million peasants were sent to the Gulag. By 1979 the number of villages had contracted by 60.2% (to 177,100). As a consequence of the centralisation and resettlement of the population, the logistics of harvests were disrupted, resulting in enormous losses in the agricultural sector, followed by rapid growth in food imports and an increase in social and political tension in the USSR. In modern Russia the trend of a contraction in the number of rural villages has continued. Over the past 20 years 23,000 villages have disappeared from the map of Russia, while small farmers are unable to compete with major corporations. According to the forecasts of some demographers, 96% of rural dwellers will live in cities by 2025. In other words, the rural population will disappear almost entirely. The project was filmed in territories located far from population centres and woodland. All manner of precautions were taken to prevent the spread of fire. The debris from constructed decorations were dismantled and taken away, while the used decrepit nonfunctional and destroyed structures were doomed to complete the process of physical disappearance within several years.

(size plus photo frame) The project Monuments (2017) researches the boundaries of historical memory, the area between fact and fiction. As in the case of political regimes in general, every single one of us is individually inclined to exploit images of the past to meet our current needs or future goals. We come up with new interpretations and build additional structures to manipulate images of past history. I erect on abandoned historical sites lightweight structures in abstract modernist shapes, transforming a historical ruin into a contemporary site and thereby imitating the position on history assumed by the powers that be. During the filming not a single site suffered. At the end of the work, all the decorations were dismantled.

(size plus photo frame) The project Monuments (2017) researches the boundaries of historical memory, the area between fact and fiction. As in the case of political regimes in general, every single one of us is individually inclined to exploit images of the past to meet our current needs or future goals. We come up with new interpretations and build additional structures to manipulate images of past history. I erect on abandoned historical sites lightweight structures in abstract modernist shapes, transforming a historical ruin into a contemporary site and thereby imitating the position on history assumed by the powers that be. During the filming not a single site suffered. At the end of the work, all the decorations were dismantled.