The first film by balbek bureau ‘Shipping memories: to Antarctica and back’ tells about the idea and realization of the bureau’s art project at the Vernadsky Research Base — the installation ‘Home. Memories’. From August 21, you can watch the film free of charge on MEGOGO, in Ukraine and abroad
‘Shipping memories: to Antarctica and back’ shows all the stages of preparation and realization of the project: from the presentation of the concept ‘Home. Memories’ to the polar explorers of the Vernadsky Research Base to the journey to the station, the installation and the way home through the Drake Passage, which is considered to be the most dangerous strait in the world.
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The heroes of the film were the co-authors of the installation, the balbek bureau team that developed the design of the project, and the Wonder Workshop experimental design bureau, which was engaged in the production of the sculpture.
Thus, in ‘Shipping memories: to Antarctica and back’ you can see architect Slava Balbek and founder of Wonder Workshop Mitya Zinoviev, who traveled to install the ‘Home. Memories’ at the station, and also representatives of the National Antarctic Research Center Serhii Hohol and Olena Marushevska.
The film was produced by Pryvit/production and voiced by TV presenter Yurii Marchenko.
About the installation ‘Home. Memories’
The project ‘Home. Memories’ is a construction in the form of a traditional Ukrainian house created from a frame and transparent epoxy panels based on an old fuel tank of the station.
According to the plan, the old tank was to be turned into ‘an attractive object for tourists, which would organically integrate into the Antarctic landscape’. At the same time, it was to become ‘a living memory of home’ for polar explorers.
‘This tank is hardly the first thing that is seen by four thousand tourists who come to the Vernadsky Research Base every year during the Antarctic summer, — balbek bureau explains. — It gets on most of the photos that remain in memory of a trip to Antarctica. The installation should familiarize the guests of the station with our culture, because for many foreigners this is the first point of contact with Ukraine’.
The project was presented back in December 2021, and the installation on Galindez Island was supposed to begin in early 2022, but was put on pause due to the outbreak of russia’s full-scale war against Ukraine. In February 2023, Slava Balbek and Mitya Zinoviev traveled to the Vernadsky Research Base and installed the installation themselves.
