Aster (2008)

Exhibitions: The Tungus Matter, Krasnoyarsk Museum Center, Krasnoyarsk, 2008

This installation was made specially for the 100th anniversary of the Tungus phenomenon, and I had to plunge really deeply into the case history. The Tungus meteorite is one of the major riddles in astronomical, geological, biological and astrobiological sciences. There are many versions of the event from a banal meteorite’s falling to extraterrestrial invasion or sad consequences of Nikola Tesla’s experiments. Scientists still have not found any explanation to the Tungus phenomenon. The Installation reproduces the scene of the event. Tumbled down and burnt trees at the site still remain almost the only unquestionable proof that the event took place. The results of ballistic research prove that an explosion apparently has occurred underground. That’s why the installation seems to hover over the floor, and the spectator sees crystals in the symbolic epicenter of the explosion. It is known that crystals are formed of coal under huge pressure, which could not be the case during the usual forest fire, therefore they serve as a metaphor of a supernatural power.

S. Sh.