Olga Chernysheva b. 1962
Steamboat "Dionysus" (2004)
Duration: 27:26 min


Chernysheva masterfully employs disruptions in the soundtrack in Self-sufficient Activities; or the titles describing the action in advance in Steamboat Dionysius creating 'memories of the future' in which the viewer has already taken part together with the characters; or life unfolding, falling into pieces and reassembling itself again, a process which the viewers can rewind, pause or let go of in their imagination. Two opposing impressions - the disrupted rhythm of visual and audio elements and the special force of endless return, reappearance of the beginning - find peace with each other in the same stream of being which is possible not thanks to orderliness and the laws of society but solely to the absurd desire, the pure drive of life. From the seemingly pointless events, words and sounds Chernysheva extracts the desire of fullness. It is this desire that is reflected in the delirious 'poetry and songs' accompanying Train and Steamboat Dionysius in the zone of happiness: bread and salt / on a clean cloth / steaming cabbage soup / wine in a glass; or completely down to earth: dance-balls / beauties / man-servants / cadets. There is a clear call to admire and enjoy in this: in the same sky hover both The Sky Dance ballet and the picturesque images of the Spaso-Prilutsky monastery.