February 17, on the same day with the photo project The Lonka Project: Numbered, the Snowfall installation by Haim Sokol will be hosted in the lobby of the museum. The installation is a mural depicting birds in a winter forest and a ‘snowfall’ of white rope ladders. According to the author, rope ladders symbolize means of escape or salvation. The stairs in the installation are made from non-woven fabric, which is often used for mopping floors.

‘In German, the floor rag Aufnehmer derives from the verb aufnehmen — to absorb, to suck in. This verb also means to record sound. Similarly to this verb, there is a Hebrew verb להקליט – “lehaklit”, which derives from the root ק.ל.ט. — kalat, meaning to absorb, suck in, take. Therefore, the word מקלט — miklat, shelter, originates from this root,’ explains Haim Sokol. — ‘One day I came to the thought that snow is the best monument. After all, monuments are created to bring things to mind. And to remind means not just to recall something from our memory, but also to evoke similarities.’

The installation Snowfall invites the viewer to follow the author’s associations: ‘When I look at the snow, I remember and imagine. Probably similar to the snow outside the window was the snow falling in January 1944 in the vicinity of the city of Auschwitz in Poland. Or in winter of 1942 in the Ukrainian forest, where the partisan detachment, in which my father was, was located. Black birds on white snow remind me of people in a situation of fatal impossibility to hide, vanish, become invisible. And they also remind me of a text. A sort of pre-symbolic text. It is impossible to read and understand. But it can be experienced. That's why I often go out to the square opposite my house and dance with crows,’ is how Haim Sokol describes his feelings. Guests of the museum are welcome to invent their own chain of memory and reminiscences.

Haim Sokol is an artist, senior lecturer of School of Design of HSE, member of the editorial board at the Moscow Art Magazine. Born in 1973 in Arkhangelsk, he graduated from the Hebrew University in Jerusalem and the Moscow Institute of Contemporary Art.

Haim Sokol creates installations, sculptures, videos, and performances. His art addresses themes of alienation, isolation, and erosion of relations in the modern world. The artist works with archives and private documents to represent the history of the 20th century through the lens of individual lives, explores the issues of historical memory and the modern sociopolitical environment.

He had personal exhibitions at the State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow Museum of Modern Art, CCI Fabrika, Stella Art Foundation, Anna Nova, Triumph Gallery, and M&J Guelman Gallery. Haim participated in numerous shows in Russia and internationally, including the 2nd Kyiv Biennial (2015), the 1st Indian Biennale in Kochi-Muziris (2012), Mediations Biennale (Poznan, 2010), the 3rd Moscow Biennale of Contemporary Art (2009), the 2nd Thessaloniki Biennale of Contemporary Art (2009).

Works by Sokol are presented in the collections of the State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow Museum of Modern Art, Moscow Multimedia Art Museum, National Center for Contemporary Art, and private collections all around the world.

Curator: Danila Bulatov