Knock Knock -- 01 Day Left

The countdown carries on with another spotlight on a contributor to our upcoming Open – Table…

Knock knock — who’s there? Eugene Kotlyarenko.

His 11-part film series Skydiver begins with a befitting knock on an imaginary door. To which a disembodied voice replies, “Hello! Can I come in?” Kotlyarenko’s charisma beams through his smile and polite introduction. (It is worth mentioning though that there is not a “real” door to knock on and certainly not a tangible house for the filmmaker to enter.) He stares intently into a computer monitor and has an online video conversation with a girl.

Skydiver, a recent inclusion in New York gallery Suzanne Geiss’ Digital Expressionism, records several conversations with Kotlyarenko’s friends, family, and even lovers, all for the sake of documenting social interaction through cyberspace. His work explores the imminent transformation of human interaction through the (potentially distortive) cyber-sphere. Kotlyarenko’s limitation to only technological devices as main mediators leads us to believe there is no possible alternative in contemporary society.

As we witness the intimate moment between the director and his love interest, we, as viewers, can possess a sense of intrusion. The girl in the video hides behind a closet door, pretending it is the entrance to her house. She lets Eugene in. A voice-over of Kotlyarenko introduces her as “a girl [he] desired very strongly over the last two and a half years. […] [He] saw her Facebook profile and connected with her interests and favorite links quite strongly.” Her description only made me realize that our human or interpersonal relationships are nowadays scouted and sieved as virtual profiles and links. The latter apparently suffice as a spark of interest in another individual.

Skydiver, is streaming online as a part of an online exhibition space for French magazine, Purple.

GRAPHITE is thrilled to have Eugene Kotlyarenko come in and explore the boundaries of human interaction and technology on November 10 at our first symposium: Open – Table.

For more information on how to submit your own original content on the theme of “networks” for consideration, visit the “Contribute” tab on our website.