Dead End

Genre:art walk, performance | Exhibiting institution:Cordillera Space | City/Country:Berlin / Germany | Year of creation:2024 |

Material:photo poster large scale, print on t-shirt | Duration:30 minutes |

There is a short asphalt path opened up that led into the brick wall hidden behind a thick bush: a dead end. This image as photo motif was already printed on the back of my T-shirt. It was a basis of the performance. I suggested that the guests replace the function of the zoom lens with their own feet by walking towards a zooming object instead of using a photo zoom. In this way, the end point of the dead end path ahead of us became the destination of our walk. As soon as we reached the bush, the same image that was also printed on my back became visible behind the branches. I had previously attached the enlarged image as a large poster to the brick wall behind the bush.

Performance:Andrey Ustinov | Photography:©Andrey Ustinov, ©Alicja Hoppel |

Into The Wild

Genre:art walk, sound performance | Exhibiting institution:ReRouting Walking Residency, Künstlerhof Frohnau | City/Country:Berlin / Germany | Year of creation:2024 |

In the forest, between the moor and the thicket, I hid a radio microphone. Armed with a powerful loudspeaker, I set off through the forest with a group of guests and hosts from ReRouting Walking AiR Frohnau. To determine the route, I used a point at the intersection of the diagonals of the fence at the entrance to the forest. From this point, we simply had to go strictly straight inwards. I did not say where exactly the end point of the route would be. I just said: “You will hear it.” I gave everyone a protective headset. As we approached the microphone, the forest was deafening with acoustic feedback.

Performance:Andrey Ustinov | Participants:HN. Lyonga, David JongSung Myung, Juliana M. Streva, Cleo Wächter, Claire Waffel, Mareike Drobny, Viviane Tabach, Clementine Butler-Gallie,Kaya Behkalam, | Camera:Kaya Behkalam | Curating:Clementine Butler-Gallie |

Wings and a Prayer

Genre:poster | Year of creation:2022 | Publication:Anti-War Journal of Art and Anti-Art, Issue III | City/Country:Berlin / Germany |

Material:Google Map screenshot of Moscow, sticker | Dimension:155 mm x 75 mm x 7 mm |

Some surviving fragments of the Moscow Google Map cut out in the form of three randomly selected NATO aircraft models. The sticker covers the display of a dead smartphone.

The title “Wings and a Prayer” refers to the second world war era foxtrot song “Comin’ in on a wing and a prayer,” which was also translated and adapted in Russian with the title “Песенка американских бомбардировщиков”.

What a show, what a fight!
Yes, we really hit our target for tonight
Though there’s one motor gone
We can still carry on
Comin’ in on a wing and a prayer.

My contribution to the anti-war issue of the ‘Shy Plumber‘ art journal, Helsinki-Berlin.

Special thanks to:Renée Plotycia, Ilya Orlov, Matthew Cowan |

100 Floodlights

Genre:sculpture | City/Country:Berlin | Year of creation:2022 |

In-situ:100 freely available, functional 230 V sockets | Material:100 photos printed on backlight film | Equipment:100 floodlights, 100 LED bulbs, 100 found 230V sockets | Dimension:35 × 20 × 18 cm |

100 images of 100 electrical sockets are built into 100 floodlights that were used to photograph these sockets. Each photo was taken at night, with the floodlight powered by the photographed socket, so that a closed circuit can be seen in each picture. In 2015-16, I specifically searched for exposed sockets in Cologne. As a result of my search, I was able to discover 100 functioning 230V sockets throughout the city of Cologne. These sockets became the motifs for the 100 floodlights.

Photography:Andrey Ustinov | Sponsored by:Kunstfond Bonn | Special thanks to:Darius am Wasser |

Power Plant

Genre:electric sculpture, illegal intervention | Year of creation:2021 | City/Country:Kyiv / Ukraine |

Location:Chernobyl Exclusion Zone | In-situ:tree | Equipment:arborist equipment, photovoltaic set, electric fence 12 V, tree support, video / photo equipment |

„Power Plant“ is an electric sculpture originaly designed for installation in Chernobyl exclusion zone.

It is a simple solar power plant: a metal pole with a small photovoltaic panel at the top. The only function of this „power plant“ is storing solar energy to supply the mast protecting electric fence, with electricity around the clock. The photovoltaic system supplies electricity to the fence, while the fence, in turn, shields the plant from the outside world. These two elements form a closed circuit, a self-sustaining techno-ecological system. Visually, this „sculpture/power plant“ is a hybrid of an indefinable technical facility and an unknown freshly planted tree that is housed behind a construction support.

The test model of the sculpture was temporary installed in an abandoned park in Kyiv in November 2021. Due to the large-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, the intervention had to be postponed indefinitely. Currently, the sculpture is dismantled, all elements are stored in a Kiev artist’s studio.

To be able to carry out the project myself, I had to learn a new profession: arborist. I could not learn the technique of rope climbing, instead I used the technique with crampons.

Aftermask

Genre:Internet performance | Digital platform:ebay.com | Year of creation:2020 | City/Country:Cologne / Germany |

Material:100 blindfolds, packaging and shipping material |

From April 20 to June 30, 2020, I was selling 100 face masks on Ebay. I’ve marketed them as face masks but they were in fact sleep masks which I bought for very little money over Ebay (0,99 € per piece). I re-packaged and re-labeled the masks, but otherwise left them unchanged. I was selling at the time current market price for face masks (9,99 € per piece). 100% of the proceeds from “face mask” sales went to Refugee Protection International. My gross overpricing of a cheap sleep mask was a capitalisation on the corona crisis. My ‘profit’ was a means to help the refugees in their desperate situation.

‘AFTERMASK’ is a word creation, a combination of the English words ‘Aftermath’ and ‘Mask’. ‘Aftermask’ means ‘a mask that arose from the ashes of calamity after all the other masks were sold out’.

Models:Andrey Ustinov, Renée Plotycia | Photography:Andrey Ustinov | Special thanks to:Andreas Meyer |

Possible Rendezvous

“Possible Rendezvous” is a native mobile application, a psychogeographic dating service that arranges appointments between two random and anonymous people. Each registered app-user receives an invitation to rendezvous with another random user, in a random place, at a random time. The combination (time/place/meeting partners) results algorithmically with the help of a random number generator. App-users have no control over the specifics. They can decide to accept the appointment or not, but if they so desire, the app will send them – at their own risk – on a journey into the unknown. Chosen blind and randomly, the meeting places could be anywhere: in a river or in the middle of the street, on rooftops or atop monuments… Participants will need to solve logistical problems on their own.

The inspiration behind the project title comes from Guy Debord‘s „Theory of Derive“, more specifically from his concept of “possible rendezvous”, which are blind encounters arranged without previous knowledge of the person or meeting place:

„ …The subject is invited to come alone to a certain place at a specified time. He is freed from the bothersome obligations of the ordinary rendezvous since there is no one to wait for. But since this “possible rendezvous” has brought him without warning to a place he may or may not know, he observes the surroundings. It may be that the same spot has been specified for a “possible rendezvous” for someone else whose identity he has no way of knowing. Since he may never even have seen the other person before, he will be encouraged to start up conversations with various passersby. He may meet no one, or he may even by chance meet the person who has arranged the “possible rendezvous”. In any case, particularly if the time and place have been well chosen, his use of time will take an unexpected turn…“

Guy Debord, “Theory of Derive”, 1958

The „Possible Rendezvous“-app is a digital tool that makes the Debordian concept feasible.

What‘s the use of the app?

The concept‘s scope is multifaceted:

1. The „Possible Rendezvous“-app is a parody of commercial dating services like Tinder, Match, Badoo, etc. All of them match users based on their virtual profiles (private pictures, age, physique, profession, hobbies, skills), which purportedly personalises the search. Such match-making rather seems to me to be an extension of the employment market. The candidates mould themselves into one of the prefabricated templates to increase their chances of getting sold or to improve their purchasing power. The dates and potential relationship in this case is reduced to a business deal, where both parties vie to win as much as they can.

In contrast to commercial dating services, the „Possible rendezvous“-app brings back the idea of a rendezvous as a unique encounter, groundbreaking life experience, spontaneous and irrational. The app follows the gender neutral principle of rendezvous, as the act of a naive, open heart and mind, devoid of prejudice. Possible Rendezvous is free from sexual or partnership connotations. The encounter may be possible between people of completely different ages, genders, nationalities, professions, political attitudes or beliefs. The consequences for both sides remain open. The encounter is an purpose in itself. The „Possible Rendezvous“-app is not about personal gain or loss: it‘s an openness with others.

2. The „Possible Rendezvous“-app is a psychogeographic tool. The app doesn‘t just set the stage for new social situations, it institutionalises the preconditions. It‘s not just a one-time special event but a tool with which we can change the very nature of everyday life. The app is nothing more than a direct and dogmatic implementation of the Debordian maxim:

„… the action of chance is naturally conservative and in a new setting tends to reduce everything to habit or to an alternation between a limited number of variants. Progress means breaking through fields where chance holds sway by creating new conditions more favorable to our purposes.“

So, the „Possible Rendezvous“-app is a social engineering of such new conditions.

3. The „Possible Rendezvous“-app is also a performance tool. I‘m creating this app as a digital medium which generates performative situations in line with the principles of Situationist Internationale. The app doesn‘t need me as a performer, rather it prompts my app-users to perform in my place. I purposefully shed the role of the performance artist as an exhibitionist in favour of a role as an initiator of social processes, a designer of an ever-changing social sculpture.

In the era of digital dating, digital scheduling and digital tracking, technology carves out comfortable, personalised templates for us to live and move around in. The blind „possible rendezvous“ could reintroduce lost spontaneity and improvisation into an otherwise safe and precalculated existence.

How does the app work?

Anyone can create a free online account. The accounts remain completely anonymous. There is no option to disclose any personal information: no name, no age, no address, no photo, no sex, no nationality, no religion, no educational background, no employment history or any other sort of personal information. The account consists of only three components: a nickname (optional), an e-mail address and a password (the latter two can only be seen by web admin).

To specify the search details, users begin by setting a starting point: they place a marker anywhere on the world map, specifying the scope of their searching area by moving the slider to the left or right. They can expand their searching area from their neighbourhood to the entire surface of the planet.

The next step is to define the time interval. Users set the start and finish dates. For example, from now until the end of the current week or from 16:25 CET next Monday until 02:48 CET on July 31st, 2022. As soon as the place and time are specified, the users simply relax and wait for an invitation to the next possible rendezvous.

Once the place and time have been delimited, the software will be able to sort the rendezvous candidates into groups according to matching place and time inputs. The algorithm then selects a random pair out of a group and randomly calculates an exact meeting place and time. The pair will receive their invitation to rendezvous via e-mail.

„Possible Rendezvous“ is a further development of the performative workshop „(dis)appointment“, which took place in November 2017 at the WRO Center, in Wroclaw / Poland. During this workshop, the participants were the first to do a trial-run of the application. For the trial, I restricted the geographical span to the city limits and the time span to 24 hours. I would like to repeat the local trial-run wherever I’ll present the app. I‘ll also restrict the geographical span to the city limits wherever I am and the time span to the period of my currently residence.

The geographical span for the official app will cover the entire surface of our planet. The time interval will include the moment of actual use +100 years forward (namely, to the end of the user’s life). However, the user will be able to limit the spacial/time span: within their city, country, continent; within a week, month, year, etc. The official app will also provide users with personal accounts that make it possible to arrange as many rendezvous as desired. I intend to create the software to be made freely available for download and installation on any type of device or operating system: PC, Mac, Linux, Android, Blackberry, etc. Additionally, I will also promote the app via social media and to create pitch videos and ads.

Iconoclash

Exhibiting institution:CityLeaks Festival | Genre:adbusting | Year of creation:2019 | City/Country:Cologne / Germany |

The CityLeaks Festival supported the renting of a billboard at 201 Vogelsanger Street in Cologne. The poster is a photo of myself dressed as an employed billposter, tearing down the previous poster from the same billboard. The rental period is 20 days. Afterwards, the image has been torn down by a real employee and pasted over with the next poster.

Performance:Andrey Ustinov | Curating:Georg Barringhaus | Photography:Arseniy Shuster | Production:artrmx e.V |

Film Noir

Genre:multimedia installation in public space | Exhibiting institution:17th WRO Media Art Biennial | Year of creation:2017 | City/Country:Wroclaw / Poland |

Location:an abandoned wooded area in an industrial district | Material:40 plastic chairs, metal board, 90L petrol | Duration:24 hours | Equipment:power generator + high-mast lighting, four loudspeakers + two subwoofers, sound amplifier & mixer, microphone on tripod, three LED spotlights, 100m cable |

I installed an ostensible open-air cinema in the midst of a suburban wooded no-man’s land on outskirts of an industrial area of the city of Wroclaw / Poland. I set up 40 seats in the direction of a large aluminum board appeared black from the front side because it was backlit by six LED floodlights.

The board was attached to a lighting mast, which was a component of a portable power generator. The generator powered six LED floodlights behind the aluminum board, a sound system (microphone, mixing console, amplifier, four speakers as well as two subwoofers), an illuminated signpost and three LED lights guiding the audience to the installation site. The microphone was placed in front of the generator, amplifying the machine noises through the amplifier and transmitting them through loudspeakers randomly dispersed in the woods. To make the situation theater-like, I set up six rows of 40 plastic chairs in front of the aluminum surface. The installation was placed near the isolated tram/bus station “Aleja Armii Krajowej” between two country roads (Ulica Krakowska and Aleja Armii Krajowej) and a wide set of railway tracks. The performance began at twilight and continued all night until the generator ran out of juice. Nightfall’s increasing darkness gradually highlighted the deep blackness of the aluminum screen in the backlight.

The audience was directed from the tram station by a lighted signpost reading “FILM NOIR” and then accompanied along a path into the woods by 3 LED flood lights, leading to the “theatre”. The WRO Media Art Biennale’17 program advertised the project simply as “Film Noir: a performative installation”. No one knew what to expect. Based on the title, some surely anticipated a film screening. The microphone and rows of seats may have alluded to a stage production. Most people hung around until midnight, frustration mounting as they waited for an event that never happened.

Curating:Agnieszka Kubicka-Dzieduszycka | Photography:Andrey Ustinov, Natalia Kabanow, Marcin Maziej, Mirek Koch, Wojtek Chrubasik | Production:WRO Art Center | Special thanks to:Kamil Kawalec, Michal Michalczak, Kamila Elżbieta |

Open Power

Genre:art walk, mapping, photography, adbusting | Year of creation:2016 | City/Country:Cologne / Germany |

A map of Cologne fixed with 100 locations of available, functional electrical sockets I found all over the city. I incorporated the map in an information board which was installed at the location where the very first socket was found. That happens to be in a very central and highly frequented place. The map is also available online on a website specially created for the project, where each socket is highlighted through photos and many with detailed descriptions about their location and social context.

Over the course of a year (2015-16), I searched for free, functional sockets in and around the city of Cologne. I photographed each find using GPS, making it possible to enter their exact locations onto the Google-Map. The final result was a listing of 100 230V-sockets available all over the city. The sockets are numbered and supplemented with brief descriptions. Each photo was shot in the night, using a floodlight. The light was powered of course, by the very socket being photographed. Thus, each photo depicts a closed circuit comprised of a socket, illuminated by a floodlight, which is powered by the socket.

Project website:
openpower.cologne

On May 5th, 2016, the OPEN POWER info board was illegally installed at the Opera ferry dock along Kennedy-Ufer (riverside) in Cologne. The board depicts the Google-map along with all 100 images of the sockets and their exact locations. This site is where the first socket, Socket #1, was discovered. The OPEN POWER info board had to be installed on top of an existing Opera ferry board, the latter of which was flipped to face the Rhine, away from public view. The OPEN POWER board was designed to suit the existing ferry board: the same size, same material, same holes for the screws to hold it in place.

On May 6th, the boards were flipped over as a performance in reverse. The OPEN POWER board now faces the Rhine, it hangs on the backside of the frame where Socket #1 is housed. The Opera’s ferry board has been turned to face its original direction.

The project generated a lot of discussion over social media, and interest in the local press and television. The owners of the Opera ferry service were not supporters of this illegal action and reacted very quickly to the alterations, yet no move has been made to have the OPEN POWER board removed from the back of theirs.

Performance:Andrey Ustinov | Participants:Florian Egermann, Thorsten Merl, Hannes Wöhrle | Camera:E.S.Mayorga | Photography:Andrey Ustinov | Legal owner:Weisbarth Fahrgastschiff GmbH & Opera House Cologne | Special thanks to:Renée Plotycia, Andreas Meyer, Sylvia Franzmann de Mayorga, Martin Wanka, Carolina Redondo |