Ilya Rachlis

Particles

This work proceeds from the premise that the products of society’s industrial activity become part of the socio-cultural environment of a modern person. The repetitiveness of functional industrial actions is like the cultural heritage of the world of production. Although such objects themselves are not artworks - they are used for their intended purpose and not as objects for contemplation - in the context of this work they are to be considered from this point of view. The variety of artefacts, material surfaces, and images that we encounter neutralizes to a certain extent the power of content and visual content, releasing the perceptual act and liberating the experience. The translation of functional and manufactured objects from the industrial sphere into the aesthetic one generates a symbolic action of mastership, from the point of view both of the art and the production relations. The formal specificity of the aesthetic experience lies in the fact that it is not built into other experiences, that its implementation and its purpose are not located outside of it, but are carried out for its own sake. Also, the relations between the workers, as producers and subjects of these interactions, become similar to the relations between the objects of production and their internal dialogue. Photography as a medium enables the viewer not only to observe this subject-object play but also to independently perform the act of transforming production relations into the aesthetic sphere.