Oleksandr Sirous, Dmytro Tentiuk (from the left, onsite), Danil Siabro (online). Presentation at the AUGE NEXT residency at the RIXC Gallery.
As part of the AUGE NEXT – Augmented Europe Fellowship: Digital Artists-in-Residency program the artists created the Hidden Invasion VR artwork, exhibited at the project final MEET Digital Culture Center, Milan. The hybrid residency featured onsite residency (Oleksandr Sirous and Dmytro Tentiuk onsite, Danil Siabro online) in Riga, 2023 and hybrid/online residency in 2024, concluded with the exhibition in Milan.
Oleksandr Sirous is a sound and media artist who works with big data sets and the principles of interaction and communication in web environments. He also creates complex simulation environments using AI. His background in animation and comics has influenced his practice, leading him to constantly seek a non-trivial approach to storytelling and composition in media works. Recently, due to his work with game engines, he has turned more and more to the culture of video games and various game mechanics and new rules of interaction, thus finding new approaches at the intersection of the already established approaches in media art and video games.
Dmytro Tentiuk is a multidisciplinary artist, musician and designer living in Kyiv. His work takes the shape of videos, installations, and audiovisual performances. By making use o new media and technology, his work investigates the border between the digital world and reality. He was born in 1997 in Kyiv, Ukraine. In 2018 he created the project “OTY.10”, focusing on the synthesis of visual and sound practices, the creation of audiovisual installations and audio performance. Has been an active sound artist since 2019. In 2019 he graduated from the National Academy of Fine Arts and Architecture (easel graphics department), Kyiv. Now he is a postgraduate student of the theory and history of art department of the National Academy of Fine Arts and Architecture. Since 2020 – Member of the formation ‘Photinus studio’. Since 2020 – Co-founder and member of the ‘_mediaklub’ formation. Lives and works in Kyiv.
Danil Siabro is an interdisciplinary artist, programmer and educator from Mykolaiv (Ukraine) living in Kyiv, Ukraine. He’s fascinated by technology’s historical, filmic, fictional, gamified, decentralized. He often examines ‘tools’ from different perspectives and feels the joy of exploring them in connection to a larger context, often with humor. Often in collaborations, his work takes the forms of videos, installations, and audiovisual performances experimenting with a variety of new media and technology, investigating connection with the digital world and reality which is getting thinner every day. He helped with the technical development of such artists as Ivan Svitlichniy, SVITER art-group, Olexandr Sirous, Evgeniy Arlov, Igor Sokolov, Georgy Potopalskiy. He has exhibited and performed at media art festivals, cultural venues and including for example Kyiv Academy of Media Arts (UA), DNIPROPOP Festival (UA), etc. Until 2021, he worked in the field of cinema, has a lot of experience in film production, and has worked on a large number of non-trivial creative projects in administrative and other departments.As a child, he studied to be a theater actor and has experience in filming and acting in theater. In 2020, he received a master’s degree from the Kyiv National University of Film, Television and Theater (production department). In 2018, he also graduated from the Kyiv Computer Academy “Step” (developer). Danil also writes various audio works and has experience with a number of programs for creating and working with audio. Since 2021 – Member of the formation ‘Photinus studio’.
Oleksandr Sirous, Dmytro Tentiuk at the AUGE NEXT exhibition opening, MEET Digital Culture Center, Milan, Italy, 2024. Photo: Susa Pop
Hidden Invasion. AUGE NEXT exhibition, MEET Digital Culture Center, Milan, Italy, 2024.
“Hidden Invasion” is an interactive VR piece, a story in three volumes that invites the viewer to immerse themselves in the complex world of identity and survival through the lens of the Dnipro River, which is located in Eastern Europe and is the third largest river in the region. This journey combines history, eyewitness testimonies, maps, photographs, and sounds, creating a multilayered narrative.
Volume 1: Shattered Boundaries
The first part of the work focuses on the destruction of physical and metaphorical boundaries. The loss of one’s borders and the search for new ones is a process accompanied by pain. Reflections on the relationship between humans and nature leave a mark on ecological systems. This volume explores whether balance can be found between human impact and natural processes.
Volume 2: Dnipro – A Living System
The second volume is dedicated to the Dnipro River as an ecosystem resisting external threats and changes. Through the metaphor of the Dnipro as an organism, the work analyses its various stages, from source to confluence with the sea. It examines the interconnection between natural processes and human activities, impacting biodiversity and ecological balance. Historical aspects and modern challenges, including floods, dams, urbanisation, and ecological disasters, are considered.
Volume 3: Invasion and Restoration
The final volume addresses the theme of invasion and possible restoration. Historical and contemporary instances of human intervention in nature, including the destruction of the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Plant in Ukraine and its consequences, are explored. The “One water” concept, which unifies all water resources into a single system, is highlighted. This volume also includes the creation of a virtual form that symbolises different states of the Dnipro, illuminated from within, reflecting its complex and multifaceted nature.
