MARINIKA SADGYAN AND KSENIA TOKMAKOVA

Marinika Sadgyan (b.1990) is a Russian multidisciplinary artist based in Cologne. She studied Interior Architecture at British Higher School of Art and Design in Moscow and received her Master in Performance Design from Central Saint Martins College of Art in London. Text in various forms serves as a basis in her installation art practice. She uses narrative and objects to create physical stories to immerse the audience in diverse scenarios. Marinika explores the notion of strangers, hidden identities, subtle changes between public and private spaces, textures of time and history.

Ksenia Tokmakova (b. 1991) is an Interior Architect and Designer based in Moscow. Holding a degree in Interior Architecture from the University of Hertfordshire (UK) and Marbella Design Academy (Spain), she currently works on personal and commissioned projects internationally. Her expertise covers various mediums and forms of expression: from editorials to curated environments and set design. Ksenia fully supports the vision where a link between historic and contemporary remains strong in the long run. In order to resist dependency in practice, she believes in interdisciplinary and collaboration in a tight connection with other fields where none of them remain untouched. 

Marinika and Ksenia united in Florence in October 2018 to create two site-specific installations at palazzo Galli Tassi during an art residency in Numeroventi, entitled Fragments pt.1 and pt.2. Though they share a primary background in interior architecture, each has taken a personal path towards diversifying their practices by exploring different disciplines, from performance and theatre design to object-making and creative writing. 

When approaching their site-specific installation at Boisbuchet, the pair sought guidance from the space by extracting its vibrant stories and mysteries, uncovering and recovering textures of time and history to combine them with materials and matters of today. The new narrative developed into a range of installations (fragments) which offered a moving journey into olfactory and tangible memories, reflections that they created during their residency. Together they imagined an evocative art work that engages in a dialogue with the historic surroundings and the viewer, with an immediate connection to nature as an integral part of their project. 

It was immensely important for the artists to incorporate the emotion, materials and facilities that are found locally at Boisbuchet, where ritual, water, shelter and theatre would be the key words to describe the theme of their installation. However, considering that most of their works are a response to architecture, they were equally interested to set up their installation within the walls of the Domaine, guided by the history of the space.