Chinoiserie
kinetic sculpture, multichannel video projection, mixed media. 145 x 240 x 80 cm, 2007
  • installation view, Rijksakademie, Amsterdam NL
  • (together with Maxim Tyminko)

    The work's title refers to a tendency in European art of the late 17th-18th century, which is characterized by the use of Chinese stylistic elements and motives, representing, in fact, a fanciful Western imagery of an imaginary China. "Chinoiserie" by Vika Mitrichenko and Maxim Tyminko is a conceptual and medial 'update' of the original Rococo Chinoiserie, which reflects the same imaginary nature of the contemporary Western image of China and 'Chinese' as such as it used to be in the 17th or 18th century.

    The figure of a pink whimsical lion, alluding to ancient Chinese sculptures and painted with musical-ornamental motives, slowly turns his head around and projects through its eyes two moving video images of an infinite, countless orchestra of Chinese musicians, who play various 'celestial' musical instruments. However the video is silent, so the viewer has to imagine these beautiful sounds. An illusion of this innumerable Chinese orchestra is produced by putting together numerous video layers within one highly sophisticated and complex video composition.