2013
“My friend from childhood works as a design engineer at a rocket plant (YUZHMASH). The slogan of this plant is: “Quality Tested by the Space”. In a unique design bureau missiles of various purposes are designed and launched into space. The plant on which he works is one of the three in the world that design satellites, rockets and their parts. The plant is located in my hometown Dnipro.
I asked my friend to help me design a catapult and make all the necessary kinetic calculations for it’s model. I wanted this catapult to be able to throw heavy nuclei and over long distances”.
The project “Catapult” is a logical continuation of another work “The Fourth Parade” and continuing the theme of the protracted Middle Ages.
Catapult is the metaphor of our capabilities in Ukraine. An item that is easy to produce and effective enough if you want to get rid of someone or something.
Nikita Shalenny by the project Catapult raises the question of freedom of movement. Today, an ordinary citizen needs to make a lot of efforts to get abroad. It is necessary to collect a lot of documents that indicates a decent salary, real estate, etc. For most ordinary people, it is simply impossible to do this honestly. It is impossible to explain in the embassy that you are an artist and want to get to the Uffizi Gallery, and you do not have such documents.
Catapult is the path to freedom, the only possible here and now.
Exposition
Festival “Open City”, Lublin, Poland. Curator Jerzy Onukh.
The original working model of the catapult.
Wood, rope, metal.
Size: 500 x 700 x 300 cm.
Photo: Vita Popova.
Schemes
Sizes: 50×70 cm.
Model
Wood.
Size: 50 x 70 x 30 cm.
