Monday, August 31, 2009

Memory, History, Sand

Sand animator Kseniya Simonova won "Ukraine's Got Talent" 2009. Her winning performance portrays life during Ukraine's Great Patriotic War against the Germans in World War II.

For other sand animation performance artists check out Joe Castillo, Ferenc Cakó, David Myriam, and Ilana Yahav. Thanks to RantWoman who clued me in to the work of Simonova.

8 comments:

Phoenix C. said...

What an amazing and moving performance. I have never seen anything like this! Thanks for posting this.

Tatyana@MySecretGarden said...

Thank you Curmudgeon! This perfomance shows that the people of the former Soviet Union don't want a war to happen again. They remember.

RantWoman said...

Pssst. RantWoman likes your blog entry title much better than her own. THANKS for looking up some other people who do sand animation!

One of the things RantWoman really loved about the Simonova piece was the choreography / the music.

The other sort of gut-wrenching thing to RantWoman about sand animation is the creative destruction, making one work of art only in the next second to demolish it and turn it into something else, and more to the point doing it in public before a large audience.

Curmudgeon said...

You are very welcome Phoenix C. It was indeed very moving.

Tatyana, the audience reaction definitely seemed to indicate that the collective memory has not forgotten.

RantWoman Have you seen the Qwest donut ad or their whale ad? They're sand animations by Ilana Yahav. She also did a Twinings lady Grey ad. I was particularly touched by Simonova's audacity in daring to attempt to capture memories and History via sand. Creative destruction within mere seconds of completion adds to that audacity.

Sarah Laurence said...

Wow – I’ve never seen sand art like that! It was so magical and then so horrific. It’s amazing how much of it translates without words.

It’s really art as a process, so emotional too. I found it interesting to see WWII as a topic for such a young artist. Her art made me think of Chagall. I loved the music too. Thanks for sharing.

It’s so nice to catch up with you.

Curmudgeon said...

Greetings Sarah. Being able to see the process of creation is absolutely fascinating. And equally distressing is not being able to stop the process of destruction.

Meredith/Great Stems said...

My family loves sand animation, and this performance is one we've watched repeatedly. It is oustanding.

Sylvana said...

This was amazing. Simonova appears to be playing an instrument as she works. Or perhaps to be dancing with her medium. Very beautiful and moving.