from May 30 to June 3
Location: Youth Center halls of the State Hermitage in the Main Headquarters
The “Timekeeper” International Multimedia Project will be presented in the Youth Center halls of the State Hermitage Museum in the Main Headquarters.
Participants: Alexandra Dementieva (Belgium), Arnold Jacobs (Belgium), Anna Frants (USA-Russia), Koen Theys (Belgium), and a collection of time-related letters by Lea Sturtridge (USA-Germany).
Curator: Sofia Kudryavtseva.
Time, relentless and indifferent, serves as a driving force. It compels humans to seek understanding and to be understood, drives them to create something more significant than themselves, and defines their purpose.
The works displayed at the exhibition, far removed from daily anger and immediate reactions to current events, gain significance today as History reasserts its demands on each of us. Reflections on Time are more relevant than ever.
Alexandra Dementieva, one of Belgium’s leading media artists, widely recognized in the global media art scene, will present the interactive installation “Last Breath” at the Hermitage. Here, viewers can light up a specially constructed space with their breath. The stronger the sigh, the brighter the light. This minimalist solution captivates emotionally, raising questions about our contribution to the movement of the world. The work, specially made for this exhibition at the CYLAND media lab in St. Petersburg, is being shown for the first time.
Anna Frants, a pivotal figure bridging the media art scenes of Russia and the USA, co-founder of the CYLAND MediaLab, and curator of the CYBERFEST festival, has her works presented at international festivals like Transmediale, Cyberfest, Siggraph Asia, and in leading museums worldwide. Her interactive installation “Shadows” creates a “living” visual and sound environment, engaging viewers as both active participants and observers. The abstract concept of time becomes tangible as viewers capture, comprehend, modify, or justify their understanding of the Time phenomenon.
This project was developed in the CYLAND media lab and is being showcased for the first time.
Arnold Jacobs, renowned in Europe for his work “Permafrost” – a gigantic installation that composes and performs musical pieces based on the physical processes of ice crystallization – presents THE EYE OF MATON at the “Timekeeper” exhibition. This device, created by the artist, scans each viewer’s iris and, based on this information, plays an individual musical composition using tiny music boxes.
Koen Theys, a pioneer of Belgian video art, will display his famous video installation “Fanfares, Rest, and Pleasure” (featured in the illustration) and discuss it.
Lea Sturtridge, director of the Berlin Center for Contemporary Art WYI and the New York gallery Dam Stuhltrager, presents the “Letters of Time” collection.
The exhibition opens on May 29 at 4:00 PM.
Address: Main Headquarters Building, Palace Square, 6-8, entrance from Bolshaya Morskaya at the arch of the Main Headquarters.