digital nomad
Electronic musician
ResidencyRetreat Art House
Hosting periodAutumn-Winter 2023
BIO
In 2012, “digital nomad” began his journey as a musician by installing music production software for the first time. He quickly learned how to use it and started looking for people who did the same. Having released a few discs of his music, he started playing at some parties in his city and region. In 2014, because of the outbreak of hostilities, he had to stop conducting those activities for a while.
Some time passed, and he came back to music again. Teaming up with a musician named Enforcer who was also from his city, the duo started organizing festivals and parties, showcasing their music and the music of beginners, and built a small recording studio. In the middle of 2021, his team won a grant to set up a large music hub for children and adults who are already or who want to be involved in music, which includes a large, professional recording studio. The project was almost 80% complete at the time when the full-scale invasion broke out and they had to leave the city.
Story of experience of risk, relocation and/or exile
Artist’s account: At the beginning of the war in 2022, I had to live for 2 weeks in the basement of one of the premises of my city with my daughter who had just turned 2 months old. The city of Severodonetsk was already destroyed at that time and was subjected to daily bombardment. As soon as we had the opportunity to leave, we did so immediately. Then began the most difficult two years of our lives.
We could not save much money or immediately settle somewhere for a long period of time, so we looked for free or inexpensive shelters. In some cities, we encountered very bad attitudes towards us as refugees. We were finally able to settle down for a long time in one of the hostels in the Rovensk region and lived there for almost a year and a half. After we were expelled from the hostel, we went to Kyiv, which is when I turned to Artists at Risk for help.
Projects created during the residency period
During the residency, the artist worked on the musical and educational festival, “Mushroom Yushka”. The festival featured lectures on music production, psychological training, aromatic mushroom Yushka and the traditional cuisine of the Carpathians, performances by ethno-bands and other collectives, yoga, musical jams and DJ sets.
This programme is organized by Perpetuum Mobile (PM) as part of the Artists at Risk (AR)-Network in partnership with UNESCO and with the support of The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts and Teiger Foundation.
