Black Sea (WT) video installation / tba 2025
"Black Sea" portrays a group of children aged 5 to 18 who are disabled or have palliative diagnoses during their very first encounter with the sea, made possible through the efforts of volunteers from various countries.
The project sheds light on the individual stories of the children during their inaugural holiday trip in Romania, while also illuminating collective political memories, such as family policies during the Soviet era and the segregation of the intellectually or physically disabled population. The Black Sea, beyond being a holiday destination, holds both current and historical military significance.
The project explores the intersection of authority, power, and the myths and belief systems of political regimes, while touching on themes of hope and resilience, focusing on how children experience their world.
FORM
"Black Sea" involves the creation of a multi-channel video installation with metal-framed rear projections, to be installed in the sand at a designated exhibition venue. The videos, each lasting approximately 5–10 minutes (loop), will be accompanied by soundscapes. The chosen locations are the beaches of the Black Sea, including the Soviet sanatoriums whose architecture reflects the functional and ideological principles of the political era—both the collective and "public health." Many of these structures are now abandoned.
A single-channel video for film festivals is also planned.
AESTHETICS
The project "BLACK SEA" establishes a symbolic connection between vulnerability, childhood, and the summer Black Sea. The profound perception of the children demands our full attention. As an artist, it is my concern to amplify their voices and provide them with space.
We will witness volunteers building improvised wheelchair ramps in the sanatorium and observe how the children and adolescents live there while realizing their first of many dreams: seeing the sea.
BACKGROUND AND PERSONAL MOTIVATION
I discovered this location in the summer of 2023 during my time as a volunteer. In addition to my artistic practice, I have a psychosocial background.
The last summer, we travelled with children from boarding schools in Bucharest and Brașov, along with their companions, to the Black Sea, specifically to a place called Eforie. Eforie is near the popular resort of Constanța in the South-East of Romania. Due to pervasive barriers in public transport and daily life in Romania, as well as years of lacking social funding, NGOs and volunteers from other European countries come into play to make things possible. Since these activities occur annually, I plan to travel for shooting in 2024.
Much like in some poorer countries of the former Soviet Union, such as Romania, time has stood still in certain places. The architectural aesthetics of Eforie are Soviet sanatoriums, some of which are now partially vacant. These sanatoriums reflect the values and goals of the Soviet era, emphasizing health and collectivity, with a clear utilitarian approach. Simultaneously, children and people with disabilities were not the target; instead, they were confined to closed facilities and held under inhumane conditions.
This project sheds light on Soviet policies that forced women to have many children and then relinquish them to the state to raise them as socially useful and compliant members. This policy led to a human catastrophe and overcrowded orphanages, the effects of which are still felt today. Children who came to orphanages or boarding schools exhibited behavioural issues and trauma, as shown by a WHO study from the 2000s.
Similar to the proposed project "BLACK SEA," I tell stories of people in my works and examine them in various contexts. In "Timekeeper" (2022), the work of poet and mathematician Velimir Khlebnikov becomes the subject of investigation, who believed in predicting wars and future events with algorithms. The work was shot at the Caspian Sea. The filmic work "Zaplyv" (2015), shot at the Black Sea, observes the daily life of an alternative religious community whose practices lie at the boundaries of science, cosmology, and psychedelic theatre. In the essay film "Relocating a Structure" (2023), a collaboration with artist Maria Eichhorn and Sabrina Labis, we trace historical and contemporary resistance in Venice, connecting it with the Nazi architecture of the German Pavilion.
Format: 4k, color
Length: tba
Production Country
Germany
Language (tba)
Romanian, English
Subtitles
English, German
Directed by
Kristina Paustian
Narrator (tba)
Ruth Rosenfeld
Music (tba)
Ben Fawkes
Sound Design (tba)
Christian Obermaier
Colorist (tba)
Susi Dollnig