Blackwater Hydroelectric Project (2010, 2011)
The performative actions carried out around the Blackwater Hydroelectric Project in Scotland responded to the history of the chosen locations and objects, to their visible or obscured past and present. They point towards the connections between hydropower, aluminium industry, military technology, and everyday consumption - a close relationship since the early 20th century.
In a hommage to Collective Actions and Andrei Monastyrski, two of their text installations from the 1970s were memorized and noted down repeatedly, in Russian, as part of the performative actions at each of the considered locations. Like mantras they were borrowed to help dealing with the impression of ultimate unknowability of a site, an object, a person, and their history.
Their English translations are:
Losung 1: "I do not complain about anything and I almost like it here, although I have never been here before and know nothing about this place." (A. Monastyrski)
Losung 2: "I wonder why I lied to myself that I had never been here and was totally ignorant of this place - in fact, it's just like anywhere else here, only the feeling is stronger and incomprehension deeper." (A. Monastyrski)
