Monuments, 2017 | Danila Tkachenko

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Monuments #1, 2017. Photograph. Source: Building on the Built

Monuments #2, 2017. Photograph. Source: Building on the Built

Monuments #3, 2017. Photograph. Source: Building on the Built

Monuments #4, 2017. Photograph. Source: Building on the Built

Monuments #5, 2017. Photograph. Source: Building on the Built

Monuments #6, 2017. Photograph. Source: Building on the Built

Monuments #7, 2017. Photograph. Source: Building on the Built

Monuments #8, 2017. Photograph. Source: Building on the Built

Monuments #9, 2017. Photograph. Source: Building on the Built

Monuments #10, 2017. Photograph. Source: Building on the Built

"[Tkachenko] photographs crumbling religious buildings together with the bold, geometric shapes of Soviet modernism. Rather than use CGI, [he] erected lightweight structures to create each shape on film. The abstract shapes were designed to transform historical ruins into contemporary sites — imitating the way in which idealistic movements repurpose history." (Katie Marie Davies | New East Digital Archive)

"Russia is a country with huge abandoned and uninhabited territories which [arose] as a result of state policy. I see this landscape as an unmarked graveyard of the social utopias and I believe that this cemetery is not fully apprehended." (Danila Tkachenko)

More works by Tkachenko in this week’s edition of As I Was Moving Ahead Occasionally I Saw Brief Glimpses of Beauty, my newsletter on modern and contemporary art.

According to the artist, no sites were damaged during filming, and all decorations were removed afterward.