Dark Site
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Dates2020 - Ongoing
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Author
Drugs are now sold through online darknet stores, couriers hide them in secluded places in cities - leaving “bundles”. Bundles form a new layer of the modern city, hidden from ordinary people. A digital shadow lies on the surface of our cities.
In Russia, more than a quarter of prisoners are serving sentences for drug-related crimes, which is why it has been dubbed the people's article. Most of the drugs are now sold through online darknet stores, and then couriers hide them in secluded places in cities - leaving “bundles”. Consumers receive coordinates and photos of the place. “Bundles” form another layer of the modern city, hidden from ordinary people, but existing for consumers, couriers, and police officers.
For shooting, I've used a broken digital camera, which deforms images. The darknet and a digital camera have one origin — the binary number system, the basis of all digital technologies and devices. In my opinion, this visual way emphasizes the deforming influence of drugs on the human personality and discloses relations between the darknet and us. The darknet casts its shadow on our world, deforming the familiar space of cities. Also, this visual approach accorded well with the traditions of documentary photography. On the one hand, I don't develop my photos, all images are born inside the camera. On the other hand, it invites us to think about the nature of photographic images.
The distribution of drugs through the darknet was a technological revolution, expanding the range of consumers and simplifying purchases. The situation is exacerbated by extremely repressive legislation. Even for possession of a small amount of drugs, a person will be convicted of a serious crime, which will subsequently greatly complicate his resocialization. The lack of a well-established rehabilitation system and stigmatization by society only intensify the alienation of people with this experience.
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I also have a unique digital exhibit for this project.
This is both an interactive game and a way to exhibit the project in digital form. The user can play a game to search for photos and captions. This game symbolizes the process of buying drugs. In reality, people after purchasing drugs on online darknet stores search for them in an urban environment and in the courtyards of multi-storey buildings. For the game, I photographed a circular panorama of a typical Russian courtyard in a residential area. The circle of light around the mouse cursor symbolizes the flashlight that people use to search for hidden drugs. Also, the user can always view a narrative story (by clicking the "photo" button) made of photographs and captions to them. I dream of panoramic exposure in video projection so that the viewer can seem to be inside this world.