Mental Ecologies of War
Ontology
Oleksandr Surovtsov
2017
29 Minutes
Date
February 15–March 15, 2023
In 2017 in Mariupol, independent filmmaker Sashko Protyah lent a video camera to his friend, odd-jobber and cinephile Oleksandr Surovtsov. As a result, Surovtsov created a durational self-portrait, documenting his life and work as a night guard in a semi-abandoned post-industrial facility in Mariupol. The dedramatization of the events occuring in the image goes hand in hand with an acute attention to the slightest gestures and details in the frame. These actions are marked by an intransitive character rather than by intentionality. Surovtsov’s Ontology is a key work of a prolific Mariupol experimental film movement, which characterized this Donbas city up to the moment it was almost completely destroyed during the Russian invasion of 2022.
This screening is part of Infrastructures, Geographies, and Elemental Relations, the first of two chapters of the film program Mental Ecologies of War, curated by Olexii Kuchanskyi and Elena Vogman. The second chapter of the program takes place at e-flux Screening Room on March 18, 2023. See the full program here.
For more information, contact program@e-flux.com.