Various Monuments : SOLOMIYA STUDIO FESTIVAL im KVOST

In the organizer's words:

"Various Monuments" presents three installations by artists whose experiences in the diaspora in Berlin, Frankfurt and Vienna question the colonial gaze, the culture of remembrance and the rise of authoritarianism in countries such as Germany and Austria.

Alevtyna Melnychuk's "The Realization of History" (2024) shows a series of Molotov cocktail dummies that were first exhibited at the OSTEN Festival in Bitterfeld-Wolfen. The work caused controversy when a local AfD member filed a complaint for an alleged violation of the Weapons Act, which led to the removal of the work.

"36 Proposals for a Public Monument" (2023) is a series of photographed sculptures made from street garbage collected in Berlin. Inspired by the anti-fascist legacy of Yugoslavia during the National Liberation Struggle (NOB) in World War II, Bojan Stojčić began this project shortly after his arrival in Berlin, creating a visual language rooted in resistance.

Maksym Khodak's "Plaques dedicated to the words of Russian writers at the 1988 Lisbon Literary Conference" (2024) is a cast glass sculpture of flowers laid at the Vienna Red Army Memorial. For Khodak, such monuments function as messages to the former Soviet Union, glorifying the ideology and culture of an imperialist state that no longer exists.