We are just numbers

Ongoing series of art performances and installations.

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Intro

This is a concept of the ongoing series of art performances and installations created by an art duo called Kreida (Elza Berdnyk, Mark Symkin). The performance is both anti-war and anti ignorance of the war and genocide that is committed in Ukraine by Russia. 
While performing, we draw thousands of "1" symbols, each representing a killed Ukrainian by the Russian army. We use public spaces where people walk by or on those numbers to maximize the effect and resemble the ignorance of people abroad towards the what is happening in Ukraine. 

Context

We see people walking by the war in Ukraine without paying attention to it every day. They walk minding their own business. This is ignorance, the same ignorance we see every day in politics and everyday lives. For many, and probably to most people on earth, the amount of casualties amongst Ukrainians killed by Russia is just a number.
We are just numbers.

Concept

We utilize a public space where people walk, a gallery, a square, a park, or any other public space as a canvas, or alternatively, a large plain canvas.
We fill it with thousands of "1" symbols. Each "1" symbol represents a killed person in the Ukrainian population. The viewers passing by would predominantly pass the numbers without noticing them. Most would simply walk over them or next to them without any attention to what they are passing by. The act of "passing by" is similar to the action of ignorance toward the death of the Ukrainian people. 
The viewer should consider the process of drawing the numbers as an art performance, and once done, the symbols left should be regarded as a temporary art installation and not a painting.
This art performance is created with the idea of repetition of it in many places all over the world, including public sites, galleries, and museums. More information about the ways of the exhibition and mediums can be found in the "Ways to Exhibit" section below.

Realization

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Tel Aviv Art Museum premises (unauthorized) - Tel Aviv, Israel
Our art team performed the first performance from the series in front of the Tel Aviv Art Museum on the 100th day of the war [03/06/2022] in memory of more than 20 000 killed civilians in Mariupol.During the ten-hour art performance, we talked to more than a hundred people and saw thousands of reactions on people's faces, some of which were unexpected. Most were shocked and scared of the number of numbers they saw; many were ignorant, and a few were disrespectful.
The 100th day of the war was also picked by the Russian ballet as a premiere date for "Swan Lake" in Tel Aviv opera, which is located on the same square where we were performing. This was a reminder to the people visiting the ballet that by supporting Russian culture, they support war in Ukraine.

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Binyamina Art Gallery - Tel Aviv, Israel

The second art performance was done in collaboration with the Binyamina Gallery [16/06/2022]. The performance was performed on the staircase of the galley, which people passed while walking to the other gallery pieces of the group exhibition. During the performance, we covered vast areas of the staircase with the chalk symbols of "1".

The purpose was to raise the topic of the genocide in Ukraine among the art-involved public, as well as communicate with the viewers in a less protest-like way. 

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Gvul Galley- Mountain of Piece, UN 2000 Blue Line, Kibutz Hanita, Israel
The third performance was performed on [22/06/2022] in a symbolic place called "the Mountain of Piece," 200 meters away from the UN 2000 Blue Line [Lebanon-Israel border]. The performance was done there to symbolize the pain and suffering each war brings.

Our duo did this performance in collaboration with a local gallery - Gvul, which helped us both with the permit to permit in such a place, and brought the audience to such a remote location.

Thanks to the people of Kibutz Hanita, which have created a fantastic atmosphere, and were highly supportive, as well as felt profoundly understanding of the pain we are going through.

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Playground, Not Residency but Art -Munich, Germany 
The fourth performance took three days [15-17/09/2022] and was done in a new manner. Instead of using walls, the whole performance was done on six pieces of paper with a total size of [~4.5m x 3m and 4.5m ~ 1.8m] hung on the wall and laid on the floor. During the performance, we drew "1" symbols one over another, which allowed us to go from an entirely white canvas to a nearly black one, on which it became hard to distinguish the "1" symbols. This kind of depiction represents how, dye to overwhelming amounts of death and pain, we reach a point where we can't see individual stories and pains anymore.During the art performance, we depicted 50000 killed civilians, which we estimate as 1/2 of the number of civilians killed.

Okna Gallery - Porto, Portugal
The fifth performance was done in [25/03/2022] Okna Gallery in Porto, Portugal. Instead of drawing at a walkthrough public place, the we decided to create a space similar in its organization to a theater, with people sitting in front of the duo on chairs and looking at the performance for an extended amount of time. The art performance aimed to depict twenty thousand "1" symbols.

Festival Estação Viva 2023 - Estarreja, Portugal
The sixth time the performance was displayed at the art festival Estação Viva 2023, at Estarreja-Portugal. The performance was displayed at an abandoned hardware store and a winery in a digital format.

Why is this essential for us?

As two Ukrainian artists who had to flee their home, we feel the need to speak up about the ignorance towards the tragedy that is happening in our homeland right now. Today, tens and hundreds of civilians and soldiers die every day in a war that should not have started in the 21st century. Highlighting this topic in our art is the way to raise this theme in society.

The trend of talking about the war in Ukraine decreases daily, while the genocide and war are still happening. And for us raising awareness of the horrors that the Russian army and Russia brought to our land is crucial so that people would not forget about what's happening

Ways of the exhibition [technical text for usage by art specialists, gallery staff, etc. with an in-depth look at ways to exhibit the project]

Ways of the exhibition

Research[full research, inspiration, and information ]

Research