9 June 2016

June 9, 2016, IZOLYATSIA marks the second anniversary of the forced relocation from Donetsk to Kyiv.

On June 9, 2014, the territory of the insulation materials plant hosting the foundation was occupied by the armed members of the so-called "Donetsk People’s Republic” who declared their intention to use the space for the storage of Russian humanitarian aid. In reality, the area is currently used as a military base, a prison and a store for stolen cars. After the evacuation, IZOLYATSIA’s team has continued working outside Donetsk and resumed their activities in Eastern Ukraine, Kyiv and abroad.

In 2015, the IZOLYATSIA Day featured a retrospective exhibition IZOLYATSIA 2.0 and a performance to honour the completion of the #onvacation campaign at the 56^th International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia.

On June 9, 2016, IZOLYATSIA presents a programme inspired by the Turborealism (Breaking Ground) residency and exhibition, held in Donetsk back in 2012-2013.

“Turborealism” is a science fiction subgenre that emerged in Russian language literature in the 1990s. The authors of this movement consider the alternatives of historical evolution, the inevitability of global catastrophes and wars as well as different realities in which people can be located at the same time. The Turborealism (Breaking Ground) residency, which brought together Ukrainian and international artists working in the genre of moving image, was held in Donetsk — a city, which found itself in a limbo between multiple realities: Soviet, post-Soviet, transitional capitalist, and postmodern — a city with rich and controversial history. It is noteworthy that one of the brightest and most productive Turborealist authors, the fiction writer Fyodor Berezin from Donetsk, whose books describe scenarios, in which the collapse of the Soviet Union never happened and the Soviet Republics won the Cold War, spent some time as a Deputy Minister of Defence at the "DPR".

The exhibition, which arose from the residence, showcases the experiences of the artists faced with various forms of "turborealistic" life in Donetsk. The residents documented the state of the city and society in their works and even managed to predict the subsequent events: last days of the Donetsk exhibition took place in November 2013.

In 2012-13, Daniel Malone worked at IZOLYATSIA in Donetsk. He created a series of industrial rave parties at the factory complex and a sound installation, which operated during the month. Installation was a mix of audio recordings of local musicians, industrial machine noises, simple sounds of Soviet synthesisers and other instruments found in the storage. In the light of the events that unfolded in Ukraine shortly after his residency, Malone has been invited to participate in the anniversary of IZOLYATSIA’s occupation and exile, reworking his original audio-visual recordings in a live DJ set. The artist sees this as an opportunity to not only celebrate the continuation of IZOLYATSIA and the people of Donetsk in the face of enormous hardship, but also to continue to challenge the meanings of recent history according to the demands and needs of today.

IZOLYATSIA Day 2016 schedule

6 PM - press conference & opening of the exhibition

The exhibition will feature video works by Alexey Salmanov, Paul Chaney, Luísa Nóbrega, Marcel Türkowsky, Elise Florenty (participants of Turborealism (Breaking Ground))

7 PM - Donbass Symphony (1990Now!) - DJ mix by Daniel Malone
7.30 PM - experimental electronic music concert. Projects: Sport and Music, Diser Tape, Qod, DJ Salmanov. Video art by Tenpoint.