Variable Name / Назва змінна
The collective Variable Name / Назва змінна, founded by artists Valerie Karpan and Maryna Marynychenko, invites the viewer to explore the interaction between memory, body, and landscape. The project focuses on the somatic experience of space, which changes in relation to social, political, and natural shifts, now accelerated by the full-scale war. The human body is viewed as an environment of change, sensitive to the surroundings, capable of interacting with it, and changing over the course of this connection.
The first part of the installation depicts the body as an internal structure in which memory and experience are formed. It includes ceramic objects made during collective workshops in collaboration with those who have lost their physical connection to important places, people, and more-than-human life forms. These clay sculptures embody unspoken stories and are combined with interactive sound effects that respond to touch. Viewers’ interaction with the objects activates special zones that generate sounds, complementing the installation’s multisensory experience.
In the second part of the work, the artists offer a view of the body as an external material shell that is in a constant dialogue with space and the environment. The video consists of fragments of stories collected during workshops. The storyline shows three characters having a conversation in a moving space, giving voice to a polyphony of experiences. Documentary footage superimposed on the silhouettes of the characters creates a tension between personal and shared experiences, between what is visible and what remains hidden.
Artworks
ceramics, metal, foam, audio, video Courtesy of the artist Acknowledgements: Ilya Novikov, Olga Oborina, Oleksandra Lunina, Oleksii Petrov, Oleksii Voitikh, Anton Lazarenko, the Ostriv Platform, Misha Karpan, the FILMAR Grip Crew The project was joined by: Anastasiia Ankovych Kateryna Afonina Valentyna Bandura Katerina Bandura Kateryna Bludova Daria Burik Valeriia Buradzhyieva Iryna Vale Anna Ivanenko Kateryna Ivanova Roman Kahal Natalia Karpan Mykhailo Karpan Arina Kravchenko Iryna Likhacheva Lora Litkovska Maria Matiashova Volodymyr Petrenko Oksana Pogorelova Oleksandra Pogrebnyak Polina Piskureva Anastasiia Plakhotnyk Jenya Polosina Alina Prisich Serhii Rafalskyi Kateryna Rusetska Anastasiia Semak Maria Snihyr Lina Romanukha Lilia Tkachenko Nataliia Shevchuk Iryna Shostak Valeria Shirokova Oleksandr Chepelev Dmytro Chepurnyi Teodor Chepurnyi Diana Khapchuk Yasia Khomenko Milena Khomchenko Diana Dyadyk Daria Yarosh
ceramics, metal, foam, audio, video Courtesy of the artist Acknowledgements: Ilya Novikov, Olga Oborina, Oleksandra Lunina, Oleksii Petrov, Oleksii Voitikh, Anton Lazarenko, the Ostriv Platform, Misha Karpan, the FILMAR Grip Crew The project was joined by: Anastasiia Ankovych Kateryna Afonina Valentyna Bandura Katerina Bandura Kateryna Bludova Daria Burik Valeriia Buradzhyieva Iryna Vale Anna Ivanenko Kateryna Ivanova Roman Kahal Natalia Karpan Mykhailo Karpan Arina Kravchenko Iryna Likhacheva Lora Litkovska Maria Matiashova Volodymyr Petrenko Oksana Pogorelova Oleksandra Pogrebnyak Polina Piskureva Anastasiia Plakhotnyk Jenya Polosina Alina Prisich Serhii Rafalskyi Kateryna Rusetska Anastasiia Semak Maria Snihyr Lina Romanukha Lilia Tkachenko Nataliia Shevchuk Iryna Shostak Valeria Shirokova Oleksandr Chepelev Dmytro Chepurnyi Teodor Chepurnyi Diana Khapchuk Yasia Khomenko Milena Khomchenko Diana Dyadyk Daria Yarosh