Fluidity. 2015 The Fluidity series consists of 24 photographs of a Kyiv high-rise building. This is a typical panel building, common in the dwelling sectors in the 1970s, which made the architectural appearance of a large part of post-Soviet cities featureless and depressing. However, the surrounding world is constantly changing, giving new images and moods to familiar unshakable objects, where even a clumsy panel high-rise building acquires its charm in this fluidity of nature and the modifications of the city.

At the first glance, this landscape immediately evokes comparison with Rouen Cathedral, a popularized series by Claude Monet, where the famous impressionist depicts the cathedral from the same angle at different times of the day. And yet, if the impressionistic landscape of the 19th century is an ode to sensual pleasure from architectural sophistication and the nuances of nature, a photograph of the 21st century, made according to the same principle, appears to be a detached contemplation of an urban procession.

On the one hand, the viewer observes the fluidity of time due to the change in the surrounding landscape; on the other hand, there is the unshakable stability of a house, which is the home of dozens of people and, due to the typical look of the building, refers to memories of one’s own home. Roland Barthes wrote about this domesticity of photographs of urban and rural landscapes in his book Camera Lucida, describing a photo of an old house in Granada. The natural calmness created by the feeling of home, which is inherent in everyone, encourages us to look for a place of our shelter in the images of houses. This search is imaginative; it is different from browsing real estate catalogues, which makes contemplation consumerist. Here, we find a manifestation of Heidegger’s concept of heimlich (familiar, homely), which is part of the everyday perception of space.

The photo shows that in the background, the life of the city is in full swing, the landscape is changing, new glass skyscrapers are growing, and construction cranes are working. Even while remaining undisturbed and detached, the metamorphoses of the surrounding world leave their mark on the observer. An adult person is somewhat similar to this house, which exists in its form, acquires its own stories and habits, and everything seems to be transformed, but essentially remains itself.