Daniil Revkovskiy and Andriy Rachinskiy

This new work is a part of Revkovskyi & Rachinskyi’s larger project dedicated to study of the history of tank battles in the territory of Ukraine. In the course of the research, the artists found out that Ukraine is the country that saw the largest number of tank battles in the world’s history, starting from the warfare around the Kakhovka bridgehead in 1920, when tanks were first used in its terrains. During the World War II, German soldiers nicknamed exploded Soviet tanks Mickey Mouses, as the distorted hatches reminded them of the famous cartoon character’s ears, hence the name of the artwork.

The video shows a field where military vehicles are turning into an integral part of the landscape, with two main characters, impersonated by the artists themselves, wandering around. In the field, they stumble upon a destroyed russian tank and start dismantling its remains to sell them as scrap metal. While doing this, they are whispering prayers asking some abstract supernatural forces to protect them from artillery attacks, mines and other dangers of war.

Acknowledgments to BrahmaFilms (Kryvyi Rih) and Kharkiv Media Hub (Kharkiv).