Who creates fences
2021-2022, series of performances, videoThe performances have become part of a research project dedicated to one of the greatest patents in Soviet history: the concrete fence with diamonds, known as the Lakhman Fence. Originally designed under the influence of Malevich's Suprematism solely for military facilities during the Cold War, the Lakhman Fence has been used for the past 40 years to enclose kindergartens, schools, hospitals, stations, parks, and cemeteries across post-Soviet countries.
The performances reflect the idea that everything contains everything. The Lakhman Fence becomes a carrier of memory, absorbing all fears, all protections, all rules, and all divisions of humanity. It does not belong to a single era or a single country — it embodies all the world's dividing lines.
Replication becomes a structure of the world order: fences, by repeating themselves, do not merely copy a form — they replicate the very idea of separation. Yet, within this phenomenon, we observe a paradox: while fences create boundaries between people, they also serve as a universal human code, understood across all continents.
author: Yana Osman
camera:Anton Khamchishkin, Peter Silvestrov
editing: Mikhail Bodukhin
music: Uri Lankin, Anton Khamchishkin
support: Lyusia Artemieva
cast: Yakovlev brothers, Yana Osman
