Daniil Galkin 

A Trampoline or Social Critical Voyeurism

Government officials often abuse the power entrusted to them by using state property for their own benefit. Such behavior cannot fail to outrage people and incite interest in the things covered up by the “high fences” of these officials. Thus, the project “A Trampoline or Social Critical Voyeurism” offers its viewers to indicate whose fences they would like to peep in with the aid of a trampoline, thus taking the opportunity to examine the territory concerned without trespassing. As a consequence, the trampoline displayed in the gallery space symbolizes the encounter of people with the ruling machine and the subsequent traumatic experience, similar to blows on the head caused by trampoline jumping in low-ceiling premises. The exposition also incorporates “soft fences” – an imitation of concrete fencing slabs (PO2) which were used in the USSR (and still used in the post-Soviet states). And since any fence performs a protective function, we have produced it from “PO-2 Pillows” to underscore the aesthetics of the soft walls in psychiatric institutions. Thus we propose a method to describe how people are manipulated and confine themselves to the comfort zone, not seeing the concrete foundation behind the soft facing which also has a protective function but in keeping with the traditions of a penitentiary state.