‘It seems there will be an exhibition in Kazan. Walking on the edge’ group show at Smena, Kazan
with Zulya Alieva, Artur Golyakov, Lilia Epifanova, Zulfiya Ilkayeva, Yulia Pavlova, Zuhra Salakhova, Irina Safiullina
20.08.22 — 27.10.22
In the work "T.A.S.M.A. - Win or Die Trying" the object of research is TASMA (now Himgrad), on the territory of which I rent a workshop. There used to be a TASMA factory (from Russian Tatar light-sensitive materials and Tat. tasma - tape), which was engaged in the manufacture of photographic materials. From the beginning until the 1990s it was the main supplier of film and other photographic materials in the Soviet Union, but later it failed to compete with other suppliers. The huge plant also had an emulsion-technology laboratory of the Scientific Research Film and Photo Institute (NIKFI) of all-Union importance.

Reading the history of the facility and interviews with former employees of the plant, I was impressed by the fact that most of the work was done in the dark. People would go to the plant at daylight, work all day in a dark room lit only by red lamps, and go home in the dark. Because of these conditions, many employees experienced mental and nervous system problems.

I thought (speculatively) that a monstrous light-sensitive creature might have been raised in this darkness of the plant. It was supposed to help the plant beat the competition. At some point, however, things got out of hand, and it was discovered that the reduction in the number of factory employees had nothing to do with competition under capitalist market relations. It turned out that the creature had begun to devour its own creators...

'Т. A.S.M.A. — win or die trying.',
2022