City of Forms is an art project that explores urban
landscape and its inherent potential to generate new
graphic systems and meanings. This exploration is deeply
rooted in the unique characteristics of each city, reflecting
its individual landscape and architectural structures.
The project delves into various themes, including the
preservation of cultural heritage, the interplay of distance
and time, the role of memory, and the celebration of female
creativity. These themes are articulated through diverse
mediums such as printed textiles, printed paper, lighting
installations, and digital formats, each medium contributing
to the author’s expressive narrative.
The journey of City of Forms began in 2018 in Kyiv,
Ukraine, and has since expanded to include work done
in Prague, Dnipro, and Chicago. Each city's distinct identity
and cultural context have provided a rich tapestry of
inspiration, allowing the project to evolve and adapt
continuously.
landscape and its inherent potential to generate new
graphic systems and meanings. This exploration is deeply
rooted in the unique characteristics of each city, reflecting
its individual landscape and architectural structures.
The project delves into various themes, including the
preservation of cultural heritage, the interplay of distance
and time, the role of memory, and the celebration of female
creativity. These themes are articulated through diverse
mediums such as printed textiles, printed paper, lighting
installations, and digital formats, each medium contributing
to the author’s expressive narrative.
The journey of City of Forms began in 2018 in Kyiv,
Ukraine, and has since expanded to include work done
in Prague, Dnipro, and Chicago. Each city's distinct identity
and cultural context have provided a rich tapestry of
inspiration, allowing the project to evolve and adapt
continuously.
Chapter 1. Kyiv
UFO / Тarilka
The conference hall of the Scientific and Technical Library
and the Institute of Scientific and Technical Information
(1971, architect Florian Yuriev) resembles a "UFO" and
features unique acoustic and lighting capabilities.
The rhythm and form of the font "UFO" echo the propagation
of sound and the spread of color in the conference hall,
which, according to the architect’s design, was intended to
become a modern theater of a new type – the Light Theater.
The usage of the woodblock printing technique on textiles
emphasizes the significance of rhythm and the density
of color, creating a sense of presence at the performance
in the Light Theater.
Cotton textile, woodblock printing, 2×1,5m.
Photos by: Yaroslav Solop, Oleksandr Ranchukov.
Presented at the Dutch Design Week, 2018.
#savekyivmodernism
UFO / Тarilka
The conference hall of the Scientific and Technical Library
and the Institute of Scientific and Technical Information
(1971, architect Florian Yuriev) resembles a "UFO" and
features unique acoustic and lighting capabilities.
The rhythm and form of the font "UFO" echo the propagation
of sound and the spread of color in the conference hall,
which, according to the architect’s design, was intended to
become a modern theater of a new type – the Light Theater.
The usage of the woodblock printing technique on textiles
emphasizes the significance of rhythm and the density
of color, creating a sense of presence at the performance
in the Light Theater.
Cotton textile, woodblock printing, 2×1,5m.
Photos by: Yaroslav Solop, Oleksandr Ranchukov.
Presented at the Dutch Design Week, 2018.
#savekyivmodernism
Chapter 2. Prague
Lehkost [Lightness], Textual artwork as part of
Facade Project series.
Large-format light installation Lehkost [Lightness]
on the façade of what was formerly Prague’s Zenger
electrical substation. The work alludes to both the
brutalist architecture of Karel Prager and Milan Kundera’s
famous novel The Unbearable Lightness of Being.
Photo by Kryštof Kříž.
Kunsthalle Praha, 2020.
More info︎︎︎
Lehkost [Lightness], Textual artwork as part of
Facade Project series.
Large-format light installation Lehkost [Lightness]
on the façade of what was formerly Prague’s Zenger
electrical substation. The work alludes to both the
brutalist architecture of Karel Prager and Milan Kundera’s
famous novel The Unbearable Lightness of Being.
Photo by Kryštof Kříž.
Kunsthalle Praha, 2020.
More info︎︎︎
Chapter 3. Dnipro
One Alphabet and Project Compositions
The Summer Theater on Water in Lazar Hloba Park
(Dnipro, Ukraine), along with its reflection in the water,
serves as a key graphic element that has been adapted into
graphics. The building forms the foundation for creating
new shapes and meanings. Through this process, the
structure gains new significance and continues to exist
in a transformed appearance.
Silkscreen print, textiles, video, motion graphics.
Artsvit gallery, Dnipro, 2021.
more info︎︎︎
Chapter 4. Chicago
Formation of Time project is a series of twelve numerical
graphic sets created in response to architectural
structures in downtown Chicago, reflections on forms
as abstract and concrete signifiers of complex
information across distance and time.
Prints, Artist Book, Digital clock.
The John David Mooney Foundation,
Chicago, 2023
︎︎︎Digital clock
Formation of Time project is a series of twelve numerical
graphic sets created in response to architectural
structures in downtown Chicago, reflections on forms
as abstract and concrete signifiers of complex
information across distance and time.
Prints, Artist Book, Digital clock.
The John David Mooney Foundation,
Chicago, 2023
︎︎︎Digital clock
Numbers are specific, and relatively universal—to count
is to quantify, to track, to attempt to know and to understand.
Looked at another way, a number is an abstraction.
When considered in the context of Solomadina and her
family’s displacement from their home country,
Formation of Time is a powerful meditation on the capacity
of graphic forms to convey and contain complex information
across distance and time, and on an artist’s search for
new creative processes in the wake of personal
and political upheaval.
Frances Lightbound, сurator