GREEN RIVERS TONGUE-TIED

Wolfen and Shostka in the Ukraine are linked by a shared history of industrial color film production. When the film factory became Soviet property after the Second World War, a number of skilled workers were hired for a new plant in the Ukrainian city and production facilities were transferred as reparations. From then on, films under the Svema brand were produced here. Many well-known Soviet films have since been shot and copied on Svema film. In her performance, Shostka-born artist Maryna Makarenko explores the myths, rumors and mysteries surrounding the history of the film factory. Earthly and mythical beings, the real and the fictional interweave to create a narrative about the conditions of female labor, human bodily fluids and the materiality of the film factory itself. The artist approaches rituality and mechanization, as well as human vulnerability in the work process, both sensitively and sensorially. Using elements of visual art, the voice, the body and electronic music, she takes the audience on a journey of discovery through the film factory.

Maryna Makarenko has already explored the history of the film factory in her sound performance TO THOSE WHO NEVER HEAR US AGAIN, WHO LISTEN ALL THE TIME.