UNIDENTIFIED OBJECTS
BAKLUSHAS
CROCODILE'S TEARS
SIMPLE PLEASURES
AMABIE
ARTIST UNION
HOOLIGANS
PECK OF SALT
POINT OF NO RETURN
LIVING TAPESTRY
BLIND SPOT
DISSIDENT
REFLECTION IN A SPACE
OPTIMIST
NARCISSUS
NO. 0
BLUEST OF THE SEAS
WASHERWOMEN
POSSESSIVE SHOEMAKER
STALE NEWS
UNDER THE WEATHER
INFORMER
CASTS
JOURNEY
LIVE CAM RENAISSANCE
DOLL HOUSE
PERSONAL SPACE
PERSONAL SPACE #2
THE PEST
TABLETOP MEMORIES
ANXIETY
WEATHER FORECAST
ON THE LOOKOUT
COLOURING SOUNDSCAPES
REFLECTION ON LIFE NO. 125082
WEATHER FORECAST - WINTER/SUMMER
CLOUD THAT SMELLED BLUE
SOCKS SNAPPER
VEXATION OF SPIRIT
STORM IN A TEA GLASS
SHADOWS
HOIST
CARDBOARD DRIPPINGS
ACROBATS
GRAVITATION
BREATHING IN THE AIR
WE ARE HERE
INFINITY
1928
WINDOW SASH
SNOWBALL FIGHT
TODDLER
STATICVIDEO
POLAR BEAR FODDER
TREMBLING CREATURES
LIFE IS STRUGGLE
MADE IN ANCIENT GREECE
JUMPING JACKS
FISH TALK
SPEEDLESS
IN THE SHADE OF AN OLIVE TREE
TOUCHMEWEB
FUR DIE STADT
THE ANGEL
DRUMPAINTING

THE STORY OF HEROIC PILOT

SARCOPHAGUS, Ghanaian Style, or the Funeral
A SYMPHONY for X Slide Projectors
BRIDE
work






SARCOPHAGUS, Ghanaian Style,
or the Funeral of a Dreamer


Video installation
2005


Among hosts of inevitable events stored for every one living, none is so mystifying in its essence than the phenomenon of death. Since the time immemorial, the very fact of death spurred the human fantasy and accounted for the great variety of its externalization in various religions, arts, mythology, philosophy and folklore. This mystery inspired the outstanding architectural monuments scattered all over the world – Egyptian monumental pyramids and sphinxes, tombs and necropolises; the mausoleum of Halicarnassus; temples of Aztec, Olmec and Mayan peoples in the pre-Columbian America; such famous entombments as Taj Mahal and the monument of Great Akbar.

Most cultures have religious and philosophic systems, rituals and certain principles of social order that facilitate the living to accept the death of their neighbor. The perception of death by the inhabitants of Ghana is kind of peculiar, which served as an impetus to the shaping of conception of the present exhibition. For them, death is by no means a mournful event but a logical completion of one's life's journey. The funeral is a feast in honor of a well-lived life.

The coffin plays a special role in ceremonies. A fisherman's coffin, for instance, resembles a graphic fish, that of a farmer looks like a huge chicken, and if the dead man took pride in his car, skillful Ghanaian undertakers offer him a chance to be buried in a Mercedes or a Buick.
Objects vary from jewelry to video installation borrowing this idea from Ghanaian peasants and dreaming on into artists’ own funeral.

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