Repeat after me (2022)

A few weeks before the Russian invasion, Ukraine's State Emergency Service began distributing a multi-page manual on how to behave in an active war zone. The order and type of action depends heavily on whether it is assault rifle fire, artillery fire, multiple rocket launcher fire or even air strikes. The type of weapon used can often only be determined by the sound of its fire.

 

In the video installation »Repeat After Me«, we see refugees from eastern Ukraine who have found refuge from the war in a temporary camp in Lviv. They share their knowledge of the sounds of war. By imitating the sound of different types of weapons, they perform a kind of karaoke lesson that brings the sounds of war to the audience, yet is unable to convey their actual experience. An experience that has become the price of this knowledge. The skill of the speakers says something about the new reality in which the people of Ukraine are currently living.