Atamian Hovsepian Curatorial Practice
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Taras Tolstikov

Inhabitants of the steppe — This series of artworks built on perpetual intervention in Donetsk’s steppe by various factors, including political domination, humanitarian crises and other physical forces that have occurred there every second decade. This area has repeatedly experienced significant societal shifts due to regime changes imposed by colonizers from both Western countries and Russia since the 18th century. Terykon is a pile of accumulated spoil – waste material removed during mining. When mining was an active industry, these terykons rapidly grew and dominated the skyline of many cities in Donetsk. They were visible from afar and always reminded me of perfectly sculpted volcanoes, ready to erupt, or a pyramids emitting their dominant quality. In my drawings the terykons are symbolical and convey both the imperial nature of power and serve as tomb-like monuments for the miners who sacrificed their lives in the arduous labor of coal excavation. Reeds also play an important role in this series, as their simultaneous invasiveness and fragility precisely embodies the dynamic between the region’s ethnic inhabitants and invaders. The craters are the swirls in the steppe which appeared from missiles fired by the invaders. In some of the works, such swirls perform as black holes, pulling in everything around them. They resemble a system that exterminates itself. All these elements have been transforming the steppe’s landscape throughout the centuries, repeatedly forming new societies out of eternal suffering and pain where empathy, love, and compassion fail to develop an essence and existed only in a shallow form.
Inhabitants of the steppe — This series of artworks built on perpetual intervention in Donetsk’s steppe by various factors, including political domination, humanitarian crises and other physical forces that have occurred there every second decade. This area has repeatedly experienced significant societal shifts due to regime changes imposed by colonizers from both Western countries and Russia since the 18th century. Terykon is a pile of accumulated spoil – waste material removed during mining. When mining was an active industry, these terykons rapidly grew and dominated the skyline of many cities in Donetsk. They were visible from afar and always reminded me of perfectly sculpted volcanoes, ready to erupt, or a pyramids emitting their dominant quality. In my drawings the terykons are symbolical and convey both the imperial nature of power and serve as tomb-like monuments for the miners who sacrificed their lives in the arduous labor of coal excavation. Reeds also play an important role in this series, as their simultaneous invasiveness and fragility precisely embodies the dynamic between the region’s ethnic inhabitants and invaders. The craters are the swirls in the steppe which appeared from missiles fired by the invaders. In some of the works, such swirls perform as black holes, pulling in everything around them. They resemble a system that exterminates itself. All these elements have been transforming the steppe’s landscape throughout the centuries, repeatedly forming new societies out of eternal suffering and pain where empathy, love, and compassion fail to develop an essence and existed only in a shallow form.

Taras Tolstikov

Taras Tolstikov, born in Donetsk, Ukraine, studied architecture at KNUBA in Kyiv. In 2016, he moved to Budapest, where he established TheoStudio with William Theodoracopulos – an atelier dedicated to both analog and digital experimentation. More recently, he launched vegyeskereskedés, – an experimental art project aimed at bringing a stronger political voice to the Hungarian art scene. in his artistic practice, focuses on recurrence of events and people’s behaviour, concepts of time, memory, space and interplay between two opposing forces, predominantly fragility and resilience, ephemerality and permanence, manipulation and integrity, pain and pleasure. His art frequently critiques authoritarianism, colonialism, and their impact on social transformation.

Inhabitants of the steppe: eternal recurrence
Inhabitants of the steppe: eternal recurrence
Inhabitants of the steppe: terykon, reed, crater
Inhabitants of the steppe: terykon, reed, crater
Inhabitants of the steppe: in between
Inhabitants of the steppe: in between
Soil of Bucha I — 42 x 59.4 cm
Soil of Bucha I — 42 x 59.4 cm
Soil of Bucha II — 42 x 59.4 cm
Soil of Bucha II — 42 x 59.4 cm
Untitled (ruzzkiy mir) — 100 x 70 cm
Untitled (ruzzkiy mir) — 100 x 70 cm
Moscovia's Traditions — charcoal on paper 70 x 100 cm
Moscovia's Traditions — charcoal on paper 70 x 100 cm
Field of Reeds
Field of Reeds