..With hope and longing
Information
2021, wood, loudspeaker, light system
In this installation by Nikolay Karabinovych, the fallen loudspeaker becomes a potent symbol of disrupted communication and subverted authority. The artist transforms the speaker—traditionally an instrument of sonic amplification—into a source of light directed at a handwritten question: "TO WHOM ARE THE MONUMENTS ERECTED?"
This surrealist intervention creates a dialogue between silence and illumination, as the device designed to broadcast sound now only casts light, illuminating a fundamental question about collective memory and power. The crudely constructed wooden base supporting the speaker evokes improvised protest materials, suggesting urgency and necessity rather than refined aesthetics.
The title "С надеждой и тоской" (With Hope and Longing), borrowed from Odesa's local folklore, adds a layer of emotional complexity to the installation. This bittersweet pairing of hope and melancholy reflects the ambivalence toward monuments and historical narratives that the work interrogates.
Karabinovych returns to the loudspeaker motif from his earlier work "The Voice of Thin Silence," continuing his exploration of communication systems and their failures. By positioning this installation at the threshold between interior gallery space and exterior urban reality, the artist creates a liminal zone where public discourse meets private contemplation.
The fallen speaker, rendered mute yet luminous, becomes a metaphor for lost voices in historical narratives and the possibility of alternative illuminations—suggesting that what cannot be spoken might still be seen.
Here is a loudspeaker, but instead of the sound, the light comes out.
What can be explained more or add?
All the rest is a mistake. But я
один сидю на плинтуаре
тёмной ночкой,
Abyssus abyssum invocate.
The periphery of the cost, a ridge,
and a cliff, but slightly blue. A
figure of a loudspeaker.
O Mr. Loudspeaker, why are you
not a warlord?
What can fit in that womb, just a
stalk of light?
Impossible, worldly construction.
Reorganization of the world order
by mediation pillar in Alst.
The text turns again, and here it
is again about love:
Depart from course, freeze in a
ray of light.
Solar eclipse, flashes of light.
What shines for me there, on the
banks of the Dender?
Whose eye is this? In fact, I often
find myself like this alone, on the
riverbank.
This has happened before. I
would like something to be heard
from the loudspeaker.
But maybe it should not be music,
not a voice, but light?
Highlight Tartaria, here!
Never let me down again
Highlighting a secluded place
(shelter)
Speaking out of the way
Face to face In this place, street,
alley, nooks, and crannies, there is no one, not a single soul.
Light dissolves in water.
How does the light smell?
Where did the smell go?
Look at this pillar.
To whom are the monuments erected?
Goodbye!
Exhibitions
