Nikolay Karabinovych
The Last Artwork about the War (2024)
Commissioned work
Courtesy of the artist
Dates
20.9.2024–16.2.2025
Details
4K video, stereo sound, 21 min., in loop
Location
Neue Galerie Graz, Graz
Part of
Horror Patriae: Exhibition
Production specifics
Commissioned and produced by steirischer herbst ’24
With the kind support of ERSTE Foundation
A daring claim stands behind Nikolay Karabinovych’s new film, namely to be the last work about Russia’s continuing assault on Ukraine—possibly in all of art. It looks at the war from the unusual angle of a psychoanalytic session.
The reluctant patient dreams of ending therapy and finding liberation—a liberation that turns out to be identical with that from enemy occupation in an endless war. The dialogue between therapist and patient soon takes a turn for the absurd in the tradition of modernist theater. In their conversation, personal, historical, and political dimensions meld and fuse, evoking ambiguous images of victory and liberation that might never be attained.
Retrospective
Retrospective