Nikita Kadan
Plans of Dust
The Ukrainian Nikita Kadan is an artist, activist, curator and organizer, who is set on dispelling the myths of the utopia of the social democratic post-Soviet society. Through his work, he aims to increase the public’s broader awareness of the problematic issues in the post-Soviet society. At the same time, he calls for action in an effort to bring about much-needed change.
Plans of Dust consists of a series of light boxes with maps, based on satellite pictures of huge abandoned buildings. These buildings are the remnants of economic failures, unsuccessful investments, or fatal strategies. The stories behind these failures are symptomatic of the various local regions and social contexts - from the unbridled post-Soviet capitalist transformation to the many Western neoliberal developments – in his country. The maps are made of dust and dirt, with light shining through them. It is the dust that fills the melancholic holes of an aggressively privatized urban space.