PinchukArtCentre

Roman Khimei and Yarema Malashchuk

Roman Khimei (born Kolomyya, Ukraine) and Yarema Malashchuk (born Kolomyya, Ukraine) both based in Kyiv, Ukraine. Graduated as a cinematographers from Institute of Screen Arts (Kyiv, Ukraine). Since 2013 working together on the edge of visual art and cinema as artists and filmmakers. In their work, they explore the image of the crowd, as a separate character in history and culture. Their films were screened and exhibited in Mexico, Italy, Germany, Austria, Canada. Awarded with Special Prize at PinchukArtCentre in 2018, Grand Prix at Young Ukrainian Artists Award (MUHi 2019), Best Short Documentary at Festival Internacional de Cine Silente México, Best Production Award at KIFFF Ukraine. Collaborated as a cinematographers with Dutch duo Metahaven (“Hometown”, 2018) and Phillip Sotnychenko (“Son” Official Selection Clermont-Ferrand ISFF 2016, France; “Technical Break” Best Short Film at Tallinn “Black Nights” IFF 2018, Estonia). In 2020, Yarema and Roman won the Main Award at PinchukArtCentre Prize with work “Live Stream”. This year their debut documentary feature film “New Jerusalem” premiered at Docudays UA International Human Rights Documentary Film Festival.
Roman Khimei (born Kolomyya, Ukraine) and Yarema Malashchuk (born Kolomyya, Ukraine) both based in Kyiv, Ukraine. Graduated as a cinematographers from Institute of Screen Arts (Kyiv, Ukraine). Since 2013 working together on the edge of visual art and cinema as artists and filmmakers. In their work, they explore the image of the crowd, as a separate character in history and culture. Their films were screened and exhibited in Mexico, Italy, Germany, Austria, Canada. Awarded with Special Prize at PinchukArtCentre in 2018, Grand Prix at Young Ukrainian Artists Award (MUHi 2019), Best Short Documentary at Festival Internacional de Cine Silente México, Best Production Award at KIFFF Ukraine. Collaborated as a cinematographers with Dutch duo Metahaven (“Hometown”, 2018) and Phillip Sotnychenko (“Son” Official Selection Clermont-Ferrand ISFF 2016, France; “Technical Break” Best Short Film at Tallinn “Black Nights” IFF 2018, Estonia). In 2020, Yarema and Roman won the Main Award at PinchukArtCentre Prize with work “Live Stream”. This year their debut documentary feature film “New Jerusalem” premiered at Docudays UA International Human Rights Documentary Film Festival.

Yarema Malashchuk and Roman Khimei have created a new video work for the exhibition. The filming takes place at the semi-operational Promprylad factory in Ivano-Frankivsk, part of which has been given a new lease of life as a creative cluster. The process of active reconstruction in which the plant for manufacturing industrial instrumentation has found itself since 2017, is gradually revealing the differences between the emerging and coexisting spaces on its premises. Reflecting on these changes, one can see the three modes in which the plant operates: technological production, creative entrepreneurship, and the transitional state of dismantling, carried out by a team of construction workers.

How It`s Made shows the audience the factory as an independent entity along with the people who work there, both native engineers and new tenants: employees of IT companies, architectural agencies, craft workshops, and educational projects. Malashchuk and Khimei register the current state of transformation and the arrival of “new era” employees, who are gradually occupying more and more space. Far from the rapid transitions of the industrial revolution from manual to large-scale machine production, the dynamics of Promprylad encapsulate the tensions of a post-industrial world.

Acknowledging this, the artists give the plant’s senior workers a symbolic farewell, prompting direct interaction and inviting everyone involved to join the event. Employees of the creative cluster, who represent the alternative production that has taken over the formerly industrial site, design a “new uniform” for technical staff. Dressed in modern clothes, former engineers leave the place where they have worked for many years and gradually blend into the city.