Alevtina Kakhidze. The Method of Constructing Political Truth, 2014 — present. Performance
Description
The Method of Constructing Political Truth is a long-term performance by Alevtina Kakhidze, which she began after the start of Russia’s war in eastern Ukraine. The title of the work presents a kind of paradox: the artist speaks of truth, but in the political sphere, truth is always constructed—shaped by context, circumstances, and the speaker’s position. Kakhidze chose four positions to represent and speak from: tourist, mediator, fighter, and gardener. Each of these roles represents a different level of involvement in political events: the tourist was an uninvolved observer, the mediator played a diplomatic role in resolving potential conflicts, and the fighter was the most engaged and committed. The gardener, on the other hand, offered an entirely different perspective—how does someone who tends to the plant world experience war or revolution together with these non-human agents? During the performance, Kakhidze answered questions from a guest host or audience members while assuming these different roles in front of a poster with the corresponding image.
The work has been presented multiple times: in private workshop formats in eastern Ukraine and in several public performances. It was first performed under the title Walking to Africa / About Ukraine within the Law of the Russian Federation at Manifesta 10 at the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, Russia in the fall of 2014—referencing Viktor Yanukovych’s press conference in Rostov-on-Don. Later, it was part of the exhibition Let’s Revolt at Mystetskyi Arsenal in Kyiv, Ukraine in December 2018. Both performances responded to the events of 2013–2014: the Revolution of Dignity, the annexation of Crimea, and the start of the war in eastern Ukraine. In both cases, the questions for Kakhidze were read by television journalist Oleksii Ananov. Ahead of the 2019 elections, Kakhidze repeated the performance at The Naked Room gallery in Kyiv, responding to the political climate at the time.
In 2022, the artist presented a new version of the performance, reflecting on the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine and addressing questions relevant to the new context. The performance was staged in the fall of 2022 at the Centre Pompidou in Paris, France.
