Marmot

Olga Chernysheva, 1999, 2:30 min, video, Moscow, Russia

This is how it all was. One day in November I decided to take my camera and go to a park, where I had been shooting dances on an open dance floor a couple of times before. It was November 7, the day of October revolution, but it doesn’t matter. It was just a common day off for me, as it was the year 1999, there were no big public celebrations anymore. Everyone was just staying at home or went out for a walk. On my way to the subway I heard the buzz of megaphones and loudspeakers. There was a demonstration walking up Tverskaya street. Red banners, poorly dressed people. Communist mottos.

There was a woman. She was standing near the subway and fidgeting, making some fussy movements. Looking at her I had a feeling that this force of collectivism that makes people go out for a demonstration is not that powerful. It tries to overwhelm a person in full, with one’s insecurities.

I shot this episode on my camera. Later on, at home when I was looking at the footage, my daughter was playing Beethoven’s Marmot in another room. The song of a lonely wayfarer, mistakes of a young pianist and a video portrait of a person out of her usual surroundings – all this joined together forming a single whole.

Olga Chernysheva was born in Moscow in 1962. In 1986, Chernysheva graduated from VGIK (All-Union State Institute Of Cinematography), Moscow. In 1996, Chernysheva graduated from State Academy Rijksakademie van beeldende kunsten, Amsterdam, Netherlands. She lives and works in Moscow.