Balaclava Drive

Arguably Bratkov’s most celebrated work, the video installation Balaklava Drive was filmed in one of the bays of Sevastopol in Crimea. Premiered at Regina Gallery in 2009, the work soon brought the artist Russia’s most prestigious contemporary art award – the Innovation Prize. On encountering the installation, the visitor first sees a large screen showing a group of young men enthusiastically diving into a water reservoir, possibly in an attempt to impress nearby girls, as the loud pop song might suggest. The happy, carefree, and sunlit atmosphere evaporates as soon as one steps further to find, in front of the screen, the supposed bottom of the reservoir — filled with old, hazardous concrete debris from the Soviet era. An unsorted toxic past carries with it potential danger for the youthful present — a message that seemed increasingly relevant for both countries at the time.

Installation views: Regina Gallery, Moscow, 2009; Pinchuk Art Centre, Kiev, Ukraine, 2010.

2009. Mixed-media installation.