Multimedia project ‘The Impersonal’

Application summary

I am applying for financial support for 12 months to continue work on the second phase of the research and art multimedia project “The Impersonal”. In 2022, Finnish Cultural Foundation awarded me a 6-month grant for the first stage of the project. Project "The Impersonal”, that touches on the topic of refugees and the center of refugees. The project is about my personal experience of being an artist in exile. In the first stage of the project, I was a direct subject of it and a refugee, and my task was to research and document. And study the space of the refugee center, creating a portrait of the center. On February 24, 2022, the world changed because of the war in Ukraine that Russia started in order to destroy democracy and freedom. The biggest migration crisis in the world in the 21st century has erupted. Because of the war, 5 million 100 thousand people had to leave their homes and become refugees, and this is just the beginning. About 40,000 refugees from Ukraine have already been registered in Finland. The war also affected my wife and my relatives, among whom were small children, a pregnant girl and our elderly parents. They had to leave home and become refugees in Finland. At that time, the project transformed into another stage: I became an observer and a guide. My project started working in a different direction and connected directly with my family. The project became personal and intimate. The importance of ‘Impersonal’ lies in the fact that it aims to draw the curtain and show up close to the Finnish society what the refugee centre is, and what problems people are faced with there. I am currently in conversation with the ARTSI Vantaa Art Museum about the possibility of presenting the project in their space. During Spring 2023 (25.5.–15.6.2023) I will exhibit part of the first stage of the project at Globe Art Point, Helsinki. A photo installation from the project is now exhibited, CISTERNA DI PALAZZO ACQUAVIVA – ATRI, Pescara, Italy.