It has a lot to do with the relationship between memory and inspiration, I feel. It's about not allowing memory to collapse into nostalgia, but using it as a building block with which to relate to the present.
Visually, this notion lends itself easily to the (seemingly) abstract, allowing memories to impact on things that might otherwise be viewed objectively as separate or unrelated.
Essentially, our most potent memories are the enemy of common sense.
They force us to perceive stuff in random ways, making us associate things on a personal level in ways that defy
accepted logic. It's this process, which seems to be played out in Sviatchenko's response to the current collection by CoSTUME NATIONAL.
As he says of the works theme and title: The Beetles News.
Beetles - it's not a mistake. I felt like a beetle - to come, to see and fly away. The Beatles Live in Milano 1965 was the strongest inspiration for the project.
The viewer is rewarded with new ways of seeing
the familiar by exploring images where the objects have become detached
(literally and symbolically) from their common-sense definitions.
Very much like listening to a piece of jazz – the
narrative or rhythm is grounded but it’s punctuated and overridden by a
spontaneity which makes the familiar fresh and other-worldly.
And like listening to jazz, the quality of the audience's attention here is an
active not passive one. The work demands that the viewer interact with it’s
internal drama in a non-linear way. In doing so the viewer can make
their own connections, perhaps triggering their own memories on some subtle level.
