Inhabiting Shadows Artistic Intervention by Cynthia Gutierrez

On Saturday, July 9, at 5 PM, as part of the Social Contract project by IZOLYATSIA, the Mexican artist Cynthia Gutierrez opened a temporary installation Inhabiting Shadows at the former site of the Lenin monument in Kyiv (2 Taras Shevchenko Boulevard). The opening ceremony was also attended by Kateryna Filyuk, Curator of the Social Contract project, and Oleksandr Vynogradov, Public Relations Manager at IZOLYATSIA.

Across the world, for thousands of years, monuments have been erected to mark specific locations and moments that have a certain value to a group of people. They stand to commemorate, to remind, to advise or to warn. Some have become emblems of our history and part of our cultural heritage and identity. Nevertheless, these petrified moments, which for some signify moments of glory, also represent moments of downfall for others. Several stand in our memory fixed as tombstones, although uncertain, as if they had been implanted and belong to someone else’s history. Although lacking life and standing still, they seem to be pointing, reinforcing, impressing and judging from above.

The issue now is if there can be a monument that embodies the cultural identity and freedom of a whole nation. If there can be an image to represent all people. Are we seeking for hegemonic identity? The past seems to belong to others, although we still seem to be immersed in its thick grey fog.

Inhabiting Shadows allows people to transit up the stairs, step on the pedestal and occupy the empty space for a few moments. To be able to reflect upon the past, to substitute the phantom, the shadows, inhabit them and then become new and diverse moving statues that head towards the light of a new horizon. A temporary monument, integrated to the remains of an older monument, which is not about the visible structure, but mostly about the people transiting through it. A sort of monument in construction where everyone is a part of the identity that changes through time and with people.

The artistic intervention by Cynthia Gutierrez is open daily from 8 AM to 8 PM and will be on view until July 14.

Partners

TRASLADO EFECTUADO CON APOYO DE LA SECRETARÍA
DE CULTURA DEL GOBIERNO DEL ESTADO DE JALISCO