Tekst: Faye Dowling, Editor & Curator,London

www.senko.dk
www.sviatchenko.dk
New ROJO® monographic book - limited edition

Sergie Sviatchenko photo// Senko Studio

SERGEI SVIATCHENKO is an architect and artist. Born in Kharkov, Ukraine. Graduated from Kharkov Academy of Art and Architecture, followed by a PhD at the Kiev School of Architecture /Means of Visual Information in Architecture. In 1990 he moved to Denmark. He has had numerous solo and group exhibitions across Europe, Canada and the USA. In 2002 he founded Senko Studio, it’s the place where Sviatchenko presents various pieces of art produced by emerging and promising European artists and designers.

You have just returned from Barcelona for the opening of The Trip, your exhibition and book launch at Rojo Art Space. How did it go?
It was great. The opening night was really busy and I talked with many interesting people. My show included two large wallpaper installations and a few original collages. I like to combine different scales in my exhibitions, so there is one size on the walls, another in the book, the third dimension is created by the crowd itself. The structure of the event had many layers which is what I hoped to see.

And how did the Spanish creative scene respond to your work?
They were talking about my signature style – ‘amusing and unsettling, and ultimately mysterious’. It was nice to meet so many people.

Some of recent work marks a distinct change in your collage work. Your use of cut-outs and scale and format of the works have moved on from the Less series. Could you talk about how this has developed?
I do continue LESS works, but this time I want to use the images as a part of a big scenario, I want to tell longer stories this time.

Where do these visions come from? What are the inspirations in your work at the moment?
The inspiration is my personal photo archive and a desire to create different structures out of the known image.

And how do you suppose the viewer to deconstruct your work to find the meanings and messages in your collages?
The components I use are the structure, the scale, the colour and the element of mystery or surprise. I think one of those elements ultimately appeal to different viewers.

Your collage is the result of many years of working as an artist across many different disciplines. How did your approach to image-making develop this way?
My approach has not changed over the years, I work in very much the same way, but the times themselves are different.

Collage itself has come very much back into the spotlight in recent years through cutting-edge artists such as M/M Paris. How does your collage relate – or perhaps differ – from these other contemporary strands?
I cannot say I relate to what is happening with collage today, because I have worked with it for so long time - from the late 70s. But I do realize it is main stream now, everyone is scissors-armed. Sometimes I want disarmed them…

Your work has recently been installed in the halls of the Danish Business Academy Minerva. What is the relationship between your work and architectural spaces such as these?
My intention was to integrate images into the structure of the learning atmosphere, into the place where no one can be indifferent – students because they are learning, and teachers because an indifferent teacher is not teaching. The large scale wall images create a positive surprise - an architectural illustration.

What do you think it is about your work that resonates so well with a younger contemporary arts scene?
I am part of the contemporary art scene, and I am glad to feel this way. I think, it is my natural curiosity gene.

With two European shows and a newly published book of your work currently underway, what are your plans for the future?
My work is due to be exhibited in Mirrow by Mirrow - a show in Gallery Image, Denmark, and my thoughts are on a film by my favourite director, Andrei Tarkovsky, and a week with my family in the summer.