The works of Olya Shapovalova
Olya Shapovalova often mixes two opposite worlds in her works, documenting their coexistence in contemporary society and how these contrasting perspectives shape human perception, obsessions and behavior – tradition and religion in relation to digital technologies, social media or the selfie mania. Furthermore, the artist, currently based in Moscow/ Saint-Petersburg, Russia, is interested in how modern technology has the potential to become a religion distorting our reactions to a reality we no longer understand and control, yet unconsciously worship.
Another aspect highlighted in her works concerns the consequences of technology on the way we approach life and even art, rather choosing to ignore it following the addictive need to scroll, check the News Feed, comment, share, while we miss out on the authentic experience, as we also do with all that surrounds us. We translate everything into a virtual universe, gradually becoming unable to truly feel, to appreciate beyond a Like or a Heart, to think, speak and interact with others outside our smartphones.
Scrolling Human
“The development of digital technologies has greatly affected our generation. Social networks, online games, blogs… We are constantly immersed in the information, but it’s harder and harder to consume it in real space. Perception of information, as well as social interaction, happens usually in the virtual world. Unlimited access to information gives us confidence in the views that are not always right. We don’t have heroes, authorities; it is hard to catch our attention, but it is also hard for us to focus on something. Even at an exhibition we don’t let our gadgets go, constantly checking, reading, answering…
The sculpture of a scrolling man sitting in an exhibition space on a white cube takes us to Rodin’s famous Thinker. The man depicted bends over his gadget in the same way looking at a feed of a popular social network.
‘Sculpture is what you bump into when you back up to see a painting,’ said Barnett Newman. The sculpture of a ‘scroller’ is designed to bump into it. Unseen at first, looking natural and real, it surprises even more when the viewer understands that it is fiction and an art object.”
Matryoshka Glitch
“Today in Russia, in the wake of patriotism and the rise of national consciousness more and more emerging the interest in traditional Russian culture. But it seems to have quite frustrating nature.
Therefore, to create a metaphor of the social and political processes, I used the symbols of traditional and modern cultures. I have taken as a basis a villages doll – matryoshka, which is one of the most popular symbol of our country. So, with the doll began to occur metamorphosis called glitch. The so-called system error, which in modern information and computer world we can see everywhere. This process was the epitome of the modern culture.”
Media: 3D-printer. 4 objects: 20х16х12 cm, 15х11х9.5 cm, 10х8х8 cm, 6х4.5х4.5 cm
Divine Selfie
“iPhone is the device that has been enslaving the hole world. Its symbol is a bitten apple which sends us straight to the first experience of the Fall? At this point, it seems reasonable that the passion to the company was called as a religion. Hours-long queuing for a new model seem the same as the crowds of the faithful people who want to touch the relics.
I’ve made a red corner with three iPhones in the traditional form of folding. On each iPhone I pasted consecrated stickers that I’d bought in the church. When a person approaches the object, he is illuminated with a divine flash by a built-in sensor. But the person needs to decide – what kind of icons and relics that flash belongs.”
