Alluding to propaganda films from the oeuvre of Eastern and Western autocracies simultaneously, Ivan’s video artwork touches upon the sincerity of the ubiquitous expression of meekness, conformity and compliance with the discursive vision of the power-holder in the layman. As the camera follows people in the streets celebrating Victory Day in central Moscow, the viewer inevitably finds a confusing picture — is it a genuine expression of joy? Is it an automated ritual that is empty of authentic expression of emotion? Or perhaps it is a mob mentality staple? 

Images from the authorless North Korean synchronised military parades, Leni Riefenstahl’s aesthetic propaganda films, and, at the same time, YouTube’s dark hole of deep and hollow meaninglessness juxtapose into a singular flow of nowness of the society, which seems to exhale the nostalgia about fake memories, whose authorship is forever lost. Evoking Sergei Loznitsa’s documentary style, the film transgresses the genre of documentary and fiction. Just as the life it documents, these borders highlight the ominous horizon. 

Ivan Dikunov is a visual artist from Moscow, Russia. He addresses broad social and political processes dealing with the issues of personal memory and identity by producing photographs, videos and objects. His works has been exhibited in Russia and internationally, including Solyanka Gallery, All-Russian Decorative Art Museum, ZIL Culture Centre, and ArtPlay Centre as part of III Moscow International Biennale of Young Art.