16/06-14/08’26

E.K.ArtBuro gallery, Moscow

curated by Yulia Grigorieva

photo: Yulia Grigorieva

Safe Distance

“I imagined my uncle running early in the morning along the fence of the Forestry Academy.
Oh, Lord, where to?!…”
S. D. Dovlatov. “Ours.” Chapter Three.

When Ekaterina was planning her new series of works, the general direction of thought was to distance herself from the familiar narrative of resisting global external influences. There arose a need to abandon these motives in favor of searching for the cracks in everyday life where one can preserve oneself.

The result of these reflections was a project in which, using ordinary images of post‑communist material heritage, we discovered that they did not disintegrate but froze in time — and we froze along with them, forever remaining within the culture of work and leisure that we had internalized. Indestructible, like Sosnovsky’s hogweed, the cultural code keeps sprouting again and again.

Formally without claiming to delve into the trauma of memory, Ekaterina repeatedly presents vivid evidence of being stuck in the daily routine. The artist’s visual language creates the necessary space for looking at the frozen ruins of the post‑Soviet world from a safe distance. By noticing and becoming aware of our situation, we can reclaim the course of everyday life.

(Text: Yulia Grigorieva)