This project was built in September 2022 for Shalash Museum in Sestroretsk. This is a statement about the choice of each of us in the conditions of grief and uncertainty.

Cube-arc is created on the territory of Shalash Museum. There, on the coast of Lake Razliv, Vladimir Lenin was hiding. Amidst the monument and the model of a straw shelter, the memorial complex includes a straight road leading to the pier through the forest. Cube-arc deals with this historical territory and the existing elements of landscape.

The medium of temporary architecture was not chosen by chance — the original shelter itself was assembled from hay and remained there or only a few months. Despite some permanent facilities of the museum complex, temporality is a vivid characteristic of this place. Therefore, the wooden framing of Cube-arc is covered with corrugated metal board, a temporary material of today. Quick installation and temporality of Cube-arc both refer to vernacular architecture.

Once near the object, the viewer is faced with a choice: to pass through the arch and reach the edge of the pier, or not to enter the pier at all. Left behind, the arch leads the eye to the absolute expanse of the lake, where there are no boundaries. To return or stay, to go through or go around — this is a (phantom) choice in terms of subjective reality.

Curator: Anna Kan