Inside the wall. What is hidden under the coal "skin" of Maryna Abramovych's object

/ Art /

The "Crystal Wailing Wall" - a new object on the territory of the Babyn Yar tract in Kyiv - became a sharp trigger for Kyiv residents, causing heated discussions in social networks. The mere fact that at the site of the tragedy, which has been the territory of cultural conflict for many decades due to different approaches to methods and forms of memorization, a rather monumental object authored by conceptual artist Maryna Abramovych appeared, could not remain unnoticed.

In addition to enthusiastic reviews, Abramovich's installation also provoked a negative reaction. The wall was awarded the epithets "inappropriate, non-contextual, inconsistent with the community, insensitive". The discussion about Babi Yar has such "dormant" roots that Marina Abramovych's artistic gesture by default had no chance of receiving unambiguously positive feedback.

The expected scandal did happen, but so did the Wall itself — a structure 40 m long and 3 m high, "stitched" in anthracite skin with integrated illuminated quartz crystals. Visitors are offered an interaction scenario: they need to stand in front of the wall, leaning their head, heart and stomach against the crystals, formulate a question and reflect on it. According to Maryna Abramovych, the energy of two natural materials — coal and quartz — should resonate with a person and his energy fields.

Photo: Yuriy Ferendovych

At least ten columns of philosophical text can be devoted to the conceptual aspect of the "Crystal Wailing Wall" project, as well as the role of the entire creative policy pursued by the "Babin Yar" Holocaust Memorial Center, taking into account pro and contra opinions. However, we were interested in the other side of the discussion: the Kyiv Wall is a unique construction in which a number of complex and original technological and planning solutions have been implemented.

Ukrainian architects Serhiy Vlasov and Ulyana Buozhyte, who performed the tasks of architectural design of the object, told PRAGMATIKA.MEDIA about what is hidden inside the "Crystal Wailing Wall", as well as its non-obvious spatial and scenographic characteristics.

Ulyana Buozhite, architect

PRAGMATIKA.MEDIA: What was your specific role and how did you get the brief: was it a verbal concept, a mockup, or a sketch?

Ulyana Buozhite: In this project, Serhiy and I acted as architects in the general design team of CONCEPT UKRAINE. We received a sketch and conceptual description from the Memorial Center, so as a team we started designing the architecture, structures, landscaping, lighting, as well as developing technical solutions, including the fountain.

PM: Wait, can you call these drops, which seem to seep through the wall, a fountain?

Sergey Vlasov: Indeed, it sounds a little strange, but, despite the unusual wording, it can be called a kind of fountain. Water does not pour, but seeps in drops, drips with tears - this was the author's idea. We had to convey this important nuance to the executors, contractors, because from the beginning they believed that the task was to keep the water flowing. So we had to do a series of tests on a full-scale model, increasing and decreasing the water supply volumes to achieve the desired effect. The source is at the top - you can't see it, and therefore it seems as if the water is coming straight from the inside of the stone.

Crystal lighting is hidden in the depths of the wall. Nothing should distract from the actual idea and artistic image

PM: Why these materials? That coal, that quartz crystals are non-standard materials, probably, besides, they are not too convenient to work with?

U. B.: Marina Abramovych has been working with crystals for a long time, using them in performances and installations. For her, crystals are carriers of information and energy, and coal is an image of the rock from which they grow.

SV: Sometimes crystalline impurities occur in massive coal seams, but, of course, we do not have such large crystals. These quartz crystals are imported from Brazil. And the coal is Ukrainian. The thickness of the wall is about a meter - relatively speaking, this is a meter of coal seam.

PM: The object looks like a monolith, a sealed black massif. What's inside?

U. B.: We wanted people to see light, but we couldn't identify its immediate source. Just like the drops: you can't see where this moisture is seeping from, it seems to just flow through the surface of the wall. Nothing should distract from the actual idea and artistic image.

93 quartz crystals used for the installation were brought from Brazil. Photo: Anton Fedorov

SV: But why do the crystals glow, how are they fixed, how to maintain this installation? We had to ensure the functionality of the object with the provided possibility of replacing all structural elements in case of their damage. The installation is not designed for a year or two, we had to lay down a margin of stability, sufficient for it to stand for decades or even centuries.

To illuminate the crystals, we used built-in LEDs. It would be somewhat primitive to insert a light bulb inside. The light source is deep in the wall, located in special mines, and only light is brought to the crystals themselves. This technology provided us with the necessary soft lighting.

A shell made of pieces of coal cannot be called cladding or decoration. Structurally, it is an integral formwork — the coal is embedded in the monolith. And actually there, in the monolith, LEDs, water pipes, as well as provided access for maintenance.

Serhii Vlasov, architect. Photo: Yuriy Ferendovych

PM: Coal is a rather fragile material. Surely it will inevitably become covered with a patina over time?

SV: Ordinary tap water does not enter here - it is carefully prepared, filtered, cleaned of salts precisely in order not to leave salt layers on the wall. But, like any other object located in nature, and not hidden in airless space, the wall will live its own life. It is inevitable.

U. B.: Under the wall itself, under the gravel, a tray for water drainage is hidden, protected by a stainless steel grate. Also, the coal is processed in such a way that it does not absorb moisture. So there are a lot of functional solutions that nobody sees, but they are there and they work.

For Maryna Abramovych, crystals are carriers of information and energy, and coal is an image of the rock from which they grow 

PM: Can your technical solutions implemented in this installation be called know-how?

SV: Certainly. There are no analogues of this design. All these solutions are individual and we had to develop them from scratch. You will not find them in the directory of ready-made solutions.

We managed to fulfill the main wish of the author — that the crystals fit to certain parts of the human body: head, heart, stomach. But we all have different height and body structure. So the task of placing the crystals themselves also became a challenge for us as architects. We formed our own database of anthropological data: we literally measured forty people, and in each of them, of course, the distance between the head, heart and navel differed slightly, even in people of the same height.

Photo: Yulia Vilchauskas

U. B.: Based on our base and the principle of the golden ratio, we have created compositions for people of different builds, from 1 m 30 cm to 2 m tall. So there are positions that are comfortable for both a two-meter "basketball player" and a 12-year-old child. Then we arranged these compositions on the wall in a random order using a computer algorithm.

SV: A person would be engaged in such an arrangement for too long, and it would hardly be possible to ensure absolute randomness of the choice. Instead, the algorithm with such tasks is practiced quickly and clearly. He gave us a series of options, and we all together selected a compositionally successful pattern.

Maryna Abramovych, conceptual artist, author of the project. Photo: Anton Fedorov

PM: That is, everyone who approached the wall can find the most convenient composition for himself?

U. B.: More precisely, Marina Abramovych says: "Crystals should find you, not you - crystals." But it is quite easy: when you approach the wall, you already intuitively choose.

PM: You talked about a large margin of resistance. How resistant is this installation to the changing seasons? Will winter come, will the water freeze?

SV: In winter, the water supply system will be turned off. As in all city fountains. All other functions remain, the light will be supplied continuously.

"Crystal Wall of Crying" in section

PM: Did you have to think of any special anti-vandal solutions? 

U. B.: Anything can be destroyed. But we still count on the fact that the people who come to this place and touch the wall are not determined to destroy it. The crystals themselves are securely fixed in the wall on a steel frame, but of course the material itself is fragile. However, this is a protected area.

PM: Let's talk about spatial solutions: how was the specific location and installation chosen? In the end, how consistent is the Wall with the context and other objects located in relative proximity?

U. B.: In the author's vision, the Western Wall in Jerusalem conceptually flows into the "Crystal Wall" of Baby Yar. If you connect the Wall in Jerusalem and this installation with a line, you will see that the objects are located on the same axis. Also, the position of the wall in Kyiv is adapted to the surrounding context: it is harmoniously integrated between groups of trees.

Anything can be destroyed. But we still count on the fact that the people who touch the wall are not determined to destroy 

SV: I don't think that individual objects in a memorial park should somehow be connected to each other or conceptually flow from each other. They are united by space itself. As for the landscape near the wall, we, of course, thought out the scenography. We have provided several options for approaching the object so as not to force people to line up.

Everyone can approach the object freely and delicately along one of the gravel paths, without disturbing those nearby. And since people are always inquisitive, we also planned a narrow path behind it, which allows you to go around and examine the object from all sides.

The crystals are installed in the array in groups of three. Photo: Yuriy Ferendovych

PM: What for you is the experience gained as a result of working on this project?

SV: Experience is practical — in the implementation of original solutions hidden inside. And, of course, working in collaboration with a world-class artist is of great importance. As well as contact with other participants - masters who made charcoal formwork with pattern selection, performed lighting and installation of crystals. It is unlikely that you will meet coal decoration anywhere else. Each element is interesting in itself. And it is even more interesting to combine them with each other.

U. B.: We used to work with architecture and landscaping, interiors, furniture design, but we never made memorials.

SV: We can say that we approached the task as an object of subject design, but on a scale.

Quartz crystals are securely fixed in the wall on a steel frame. Photo: Yuriy Ferendovych

PM: What impression did the feedback make on you as people related to the project? Reviews are quite mixed. In particular, many are outraged that this monumental construction was not widely agreed with the public.

SV: The concept was agreed upon by the Memorial Center quite a long time ago, published in the mass media and made available to the public long before installation work began. Yes, there were no details, because at that time we did not have a working project, and no one knew how it would be implemented from a technical point of view.

Regarding monumentality... In the end, we didn't get a monument with some unambiguous narrative, when a person is assigned only one role - stand and watch. This is an installation: it is alive, tactile, interactive, it invites dialogue and reflection.

U. B.: Maybe the reaction of those who come here is much more important? I saw how a short woman approached Maryna Abramovich and said that here, in Babyny Yar, is her grandmother. The artist led her to the crystals and showed her how to interact with the installation. However, even the author's instructions are not dogma. People can independently invent their own interaction scenarios. It is enough to look at the children who walk along the wall and play with crystals in a completely unique, special manner.

The author's instruction is not a dogma. People can independently invent their own interaction scenarios

SV: The very fact that this idea reached physical realization and did not hang in the air like most interesting ideas after their "broad discussion" is important. We lack courage in implementations, as soon as there is a hint of at least some ambiguous interpretation.

For example, we previously conducted research and developed a concept for the "Starokyivska Gora" project. In the course of landscaping the area around the Tithe Church, we proposed to integrate codes into the landscape that would hint at the role this space played even before the adoption of Christianity by Kievan Rus. To remind that there was once a pagan temple with an altar at this place.

Photo: Yuriy Ferendovych

U. B.: We proposed to outline the contours of the building at that time with corten steel - this is, in my opinion, the best material for working with history today. The most delicate. But we decided not to implement this idea, and we transferred our improvements to Maksym Kotsyuba's studio.

As a result, the entire improvement was limited only to the technical laying of new paths. But as soon as they started to repave the tracks, hundreds of activists, dissatisfied with the very fact of the work, immediately appeared. Sometimes it is easier for architects and designers to do nothing at all than to fight with windmills. Therefore, in this case, the fact that the idea, quite complex and ambiguous, was still implemented is already a breakthrough.

PM: Another epithet that was applied to Stina: "too gloomy, dramatic." Should architecture in general be so emotional?

SV: Of course, architecture should evoke emotions, but when has it been otherwise? But everyone sees their own associations, so the degree of emotionality of the object directly depends on how emotional the person himself is.

 

Iryna Isachenko spoke