Past Residents Jenia Advokat
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Jenia Advokat, photo by Alina Khorolska
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Jenia Advokat, Superconductivity (metal profile, polyethylene foam), 2021, Photo by Alina Khorolska
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Jenia Advokat, Burshtyn Kit (children’s game set), 2021, Photo by Alina Khorolska
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Jenia Advokat, Cones in the Snow (wallpaper, expending foam, fir tree cones), 2019, Photo by Alina Khorolska
Jenia Advokat is an artist from Ukraine. He is mostly known as the leader of musical projects Dzierzynski Bitz and Advokaty. One day he made an installation to support local exhibition. As a result of this experience he has found himself in a new area, which engaged him a lot.
From 2018 to 2020 Jenia took part in I am SINoptik (Kyiv), Vertuha Art Festival (Kyiv), Art Bungalow (collabo. Alina Khorolska) art events. His works have a definite conceptual feeling, often including a provocative and ironic context. His interests lie in fields of new ecological aesthetic, socio-political aspects, and memory psychological phenomena.
I’m lucky to have spent the last month in a safe environment. Still, the war is not over. Every new day brings horrific news about new victims — innocent people, children and friends. Many Ukrainians, who were not professional soldiers, were obliged to take arms to defend their own country. I’m still in Kyiv in my heart and thoughts, helping as much as I can.
The general subject of my investigation in HIAP is obscure war triggers. The post-trauma has a strong effect which possibly would never completely end. Even after a long time living in a safe place, a sunny day could suddenly turn into a gray one. These triggers are not only limited to obvious things such as low flying aircraft or loud sounds of exploding pyrotechnics. Some regular objects which are embedded into our everyday city life could cause a state of anxiety.
Jenia Advokat’s residency is part of the Ukraine Solidarity Residencies program started in March by a group of independent art organisations who joined together to pool resources and share information. The current partners are AARK, Connecting Points programme, Fairres, Frame Contemporary Art Finland, Goethe-Institut Finnland, HIAP – Helsinki International Artist Programme, Pro Artibus, The Finnish Artists’ Studio Foundation, The Finnish Illustration Association and Saari Residence.