Mad Wolfs and the Chernobyl Luminosity – as ARTEFACT set Ukraine’s record

ARTEFACT project artists created the largest digital art sculpture in Chernobyl – the “Chornobyl Radiance”, which also became the largest laser installation in Ukraine. The radar station “Doug” shone for about an hour during the shooting of the documentary art-movie “Artifacts of Chornobyl” by director Valery Korshunov. We decided to find out how difficult it was to organize such a project, what funny things happened during the trip. They tell the project artist.

Organizers shoot art-cinema about modern artifacts of Chernobyl. Because the problems of 1986 – propaganda, silence and fake are still relevant. And with large-scale cultural projects, the ARTEFACT team is trying to reach the public.

To do something big in the Chernobyl zone right now is a star task. The alienation zone has its own mood and it seems to decide what and how you will do it, even if everything is planned for you – everything will never turn out as intended.

It happened the same day that the team went to the regular shootings. Questions at the entrance to the Exclusion Zone have already happened. For example, when shooting together with DUB FX, a world-renowned beatboxer, at the entrance they said that there was a message about the replacement of the Chornobyl NPP and no entry into the 10 km zone. The matter then settled in a few hours, but that completely changed the shooting plan.

This time it also started at KP “Dityki”, where there was unofficial information that the area had to be closed and touched, because two days ago there a wolf bit a dog guarding KP “Duga”, went out on the road and was not afraid of buses or a car that could point to his tale.

Crazy radioactive wolf on the loose – a great start to the project, huh? Who knows how quickly documentaries will turn into horror with a wolf starring. Moreover, if you encounter a local fauna, it is possible to protect yourself with lasers.

The area was supposed to be closed from minute to minute, but it was not closed, but no one drove the wolf either. There was nothing left for the artifacts except to go. Still, the goal is to set a record for Ukraine, and possibly the world. Fortunately, on that day, the wolf did not come to the meeting, and even the first tests showed that the digital sculpture would look incredible. And these photos are from that first rehearsal.

The Chornobyl Lights shone in a few weeks on a full scale, revealing new meanings in monuments of the Soviet past. The theatrical action, the electronic music with the samplings of the Chernobyl sounds and, in fact, the enormous 690 * 135 meters arc, which is shimmering with the colors of the lasers – are truly impressive! In the days of the USSR, the station was supposed to detect the launch of intercontinental ballistic missiles, and now it is a huge art object that broadcasts new meanings.

The project of documentary art-cinema “Artifact of Chornobyl” won the competition of the Ukrainian Cultural Fund, overtaking 170 projects. Chornobyl Artifacts will soon be presented on Ukrainian television and at several international festivals.

The film is made with the support of the Ukrainian Cultural Fund, the Ministry of Culture of Ukraine, the Ministry of Information Policy, the Ministry of Energy and the Environment, the Ukrainian Institute, the SBU Sectoral State Archive, the State Agency for the Exclusion Zone Management, the Chornobyl Museum, Media Center Prix yat Kom.