SAF

"Trigger Globes" series In collaboration with Nadiya Petrovska Edition 1/12 A small architectural form is a small building for decorative, auxiliary or other purposes, which is used to improve the aesthetic appearance of public places and urban objects, organize space and complement the composition of houses, buildings, and their complexes. The construction must fit into the overall panoramic view of the area, organize the space, and carry an aesthetic load. At the beginning of March, when Kherson fell into the hands of the “liberators”, who proclaimed the “Russian World” in it, the first thing they did was supplement the composition of the main administrative building of the city with such decorative buildings. It’s obvious, Russian World demands Russian SAFs. Until the very end of the occupation, in every such kiosk there was a Russian liberator with his weapon of liberation. If I had been a little more courageous or stupid, then, passing by, I would have handed money through the window with the words “One ticket. Adult” (to the theater of the absurd, a circus performance or a one way ticket, whichever resonates more to you). Of course, these Small Architectural Forms stood here in order to protect what was happening in the nearby Large (Architectural Forms). The main one was the building of the Administrative Court, where during the occupation, rocket artillery of the Ukrainian Armed Forces visited the meeting of the occupation “administration”, making it timeless. In the first days after the liberation of the city, Kherson residents, who had both courage and stupidity, got a unique chance to look into the stopped heart of the “Russian World”. I looked in too. The first thing that caught my eye was the pinpoint precision of the UAF. All the missiles landed in one specific part of the building. Among the many unremarkable offices covered with concrete dust, the two adjoining rooms on the ground floor at the end of the corridor attracted the most attention. In one of them, hand-drawn diagrams were pasted on the wall near the windows, where the liberator should be with a machine gun on an alarm signal, with “liberation” sectors and some kind of combat spells, the meaning of which was understandable only to military magicians. In the middle of the mystical secret room was a civilian “VODNIK”. This is not the name of a sanatorium for water transport workers, nor is it a medical device. This is a homemade appliance made from two plastic bottles of different calibers for recreational or medical, although in this case, perhaps, religious or combat use of narcotic plants. In the room opposite, which had once served as a public toilet, but was now a shamelessly filthy public toilet, feces lay everywhere and stank. Undoubtedly, the lack of water or a cleaner could only partially explain this magic. Fortunately, there was no one to ask about the reasons for the metamorphoses that had occurred in the room. Yes, it’s not necessary. The whole essence of the “Russian World” was here, in these two rooms of the Large Architectural Form, reliably guarded by the Small ones. The paradox is that the world of our psyche is no better. For each traumatic memory or flaw, it sets up such a “kiosk” with a machine gunner who reliably protects it in all available ways: aggression, avoidance, devaluation, lethargy, manipulation or, in some cases, Ukrainization. The more such SAFs there are in it, the less chance there is for normal relationships with other people, personal fulfillment and a happy life. After the liberation of Kherson, the SAFs were eventually removed. I wish the same for you!