MAX MESIATS - ulyanovsk

ULYANOVSK ROUTING

Digital Printing. 2021

In a collaborative project "Ulyanovsk. Routing" artists Max Mesiats and Sergey Uskov, as a result of the "Windmill" residency at Ulyanovsk Center of Contemporary Art, highlight the fragile interaction of different meta-universes, which affect our lives nowadays. The physical world is quite actively supplemented by online maps, navigators, and various "assistants".

The interconnection of these universes is what has become the starting point of the artists' reflections. Therefore, having divided the duties –– Uskov went to explore the city with advises by locals and took photos with a film camera Zenith. Mesiats detached himself as much as possible from the "natural" exploration of the city and trusted the online navigator, randomly selecting points on the map and "handed over" his function as a photo-explorer to AI camera from Google, which chose independently good places to shoot and took pictures. The result of this research was two public routes published via online maps for anyone to follow.

Maximizing the gap between the two ways of exploring the city, the artists raise the obvious, but no less urgent topic of the integration of technology into our daily lives and its impact on our everyday experience. Which of these images can be considered truly documentary? What is the role of technology in contemporary photography and does it still need a human being? Is documentary photography "dead" or has it rather changed its regime, moved into the "extended domain"? And most importantly –– what photograph will you see on the maps when you decide on your next trip? Are you sure this place exists?

Blue pins - Mesiats' Google AI, Red pins - Uskov's film photos

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